Down Again
by Zhailei
Summary: Three parties. One murder. No waiting. Sequel to What Goes Down. AU from episode 3:2 - My Big Fat Greek Rush Week; potential spoilers up to the end of season three. Lamb/Veronica.
1. The Woman In The Refrigerator

"You're home."

Veronica looked up at her father. "So are you."

"I just ... didn't expect you to be here, is all."

"Where else would I be?" Veronica considered the question for a second, and frowned. "Wait, don't answer that. So, did you get him?"

"Nailed the bad guys," Keith said, grinning. "Mercano's in a cell as we speak."

Veronica smiled proudly as he sat down beside her. "What about Liam?"

"Liam Fitzpatrick is under arrest for the murder of Kendall Casablancas."

"Liam didn't kill Kendall," she said slowly.

"Cormac Fitzpatrick killed Kendall," he agreed. "And Liam killed Cormac. The official story is that Cormac skipped out on his bail, and nobody's been able to find him."

He paused, and put an arm around Veronica.

"Do you think it's unfair?"

Veronica thought for a minute, and finally shook her head. "No. I really don't."

He nodded, and she leaned forward to pick up the remote, flicking through the channels. After all the excitement they'd been through in the past few weeks, she thought a quiet night at home watching television was exactly what they needed.

"Ooh," she said, stopping at one of the channels. "The Maltese Falcon. Want to see what our lives should really be like?"

Keith smiled a little, and Veronica sat back, turning up the volume.

"You know," she said casually, "movies really go better with popcorn."

He nodded absently, and turned to face her. "So, what's with you and the sheriff?"

Veronica bit her lip. She had been expecting it, but she still didn't think she was quite prepared for the conversation.

"I don't know," she said finally.

"You two are dating?"

She nodded, not entirely trusting herself to speak.

"Do you want to explain to me how that happened?"

She shook her head, and risked a glance at her father. "I'm not really sure."

He nodded, slowly. "And he's ... I mean, you two are ... you're happy?"

Veronica nodded again, deliberately. Against the odds, she really was.

"All right," he said finally. "I don't get it, but all right. No staying at his house, no hanging out at the station all day, and I don't want you getting caught up in any more of his investigations."

"Okay."

"Veronica."

"I understand," she said, more genuinely. It might not happen, but she understood.

After a minute, he nodded. "Okay, then. Now, what do you say I take care of this popcorn situation?"

Veronica smiled, still not entirely relaxed, and settled in to watch the rest of the movie.

-

Veronica sighed, and resisted the urge to shake her computer. Of all the times it could have crashed on her, it picked the day before school started. Well, that just figured.

"Dad?" she called out, and a few seconds later, Keith appeared in her doorway.

"All set for tomorrow?"

"Not really," she said, smiling wryly. "My laptop just died. I'm going to see if Mac can fix it."

"Okay," he said, as she slid the computer into her bag. "Good luck with that."

She needed it, she thought, as she knocked on Mac's door half an hour later. She could only hope that Mac was back from vacation already, and could help her.

And, she amended silently, that she had gotten the right room.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Mac opened the door, and she held out her laptop. "My computer crashed," she said, by way of greeting. "Think you could take a look at it for me?"

"Sure," Mac said, taking the laptop and stepping back to let Veronica into the room. "No problem."

"Parker," Veronica said, as she glanced around the room. Parker was sitting on one of the beds, surrounded by a pile of clothes. "You guys are rooming together again?"

"Yeah," Parker said, beaming. "Isn't it great?" She looked at Mac. "See, Mac, you won't be alone."

"Alone where?" Veronica asked cautiously, glancing over at Mac.

Mac didn't answer. "How did you even find my room?" she asked instead, changing the subject.

"Student registry," Veronica said. "You'd be amazed at what you can find online with a little bit of effort."

Mac smiled. "No, I wouldn't."

No, Veronica supposed, she really wouldn't. "Alone where?" she asked again.

Mac sighed. "A party."

"Logan's throwing an end of vacation party tonight," Parker supplied. She looked at Mac meaningfully. "And you're both coming."

Logan's party. Great. Veronica hadn't seen him since the news got out about her and Lamb, and she wasn't sure how he would have taken it, friends or not. "He's leaving it a bit late, isn't he? School starts tomorrow."

Parker just shrugged. "You're coming, though, right?"

"Are you guys -" Veronica swallowed. She could ask about this stuff. "Are you guys still dating?"

"It didn't really work out," Parker said, looking down at her hands. "But we're friends."

Veronica hesitated. If Parker could do the whole friends thing, maybe she shouldn't be so worried.

"Sure," she said, ignoring the death glare she got from Mac. "I'll be there."

-

"You won't leave me, right?" Veronica asked, as she and Mac got out of the elevator at the Neptune Grand. She could already hear the party down the hall, music and voices that would have told her where to go even if she couldn't remember it for herself.

"I won't leave you," Mac confirmed. "I'll be here, and Bronson said he'd come, too. Besides, I thought you and Logan were friends."

"Yeah." There was _friends_ friends, and then there was _by the way, I'm dating the sheriff_ friends. Not to mention the fact that she hadn't seen him in over three months. "So, you and Bronson are -"

"Still together," Mac said, with a smile she couldn't quite cover up.

"That's good," Veronica said. She really should have made more of an effort to stay in touch over the break. She took a breath, and squared her shoulders. "Okay. Let's do this."

The party was loud, and thankfully crowded enough that she didn't see Logan straight away. Mac stayed faithfully by her side for about half an hour before disappearing with Bronson; Veronica supposed she couldn't really blame her, but the girl was going to get a talking to in the morning.

"Hey, Veronica," someone said beside her, and she looked over to see Max. She smiled, thankful for the distraction.

"Hey, Max," she said. "You here alone?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling. "I've decided I can't really afford another girlfriend right now."

Veronica wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so she laughed, and after a second, Max joined in. She was about to say something else when a shadow fell over them, and she looked up.

"Move," Logan said, and she glanced at him as he sat down in Max's newly vacated seat.

"What?" she asked. "Do you get to veto who I talk to now?"

"Just wanted to talk," he said, not smiling. "Or do we not do that any more?"

It was a fair accusation, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. She was about to answer it when her attention was caught by somebody on the far side of the room, and she frowned.

"Madison's here?"

"Yeah," Logan said, glancing around. "She and Dick hooked up while we were on vacation last year. They've been on again, off again, all summer."

"Is Dick still living here?"

"I think he's moving in with the Pi Sigs."

She frowned. "Are you okay with that?"

"Why, are you offering to keep me company?"

Veronica held his gaze, and finally he looked away.

"Mi casa es mi casa," he said, and there was a bitter edge to his voice. "I'll live."

"Well, at least you won't have to hang out with Madison," she said, trying for levity and probably failing. "Anyway, doesn't she have her own college parties to go to?"

Logan shrugged, his lips curling up in a smile. "Passing judgement on other peoples' relationships, are we? Do you really think that's wise?"

"Who I date is none of your business," she said evenly. Of course he'd heard.

"Yeah, but Lamb?" he spat, and she tensed, waiting for a fight. "Will it be my business the next time he arrests me?"

She shook her head, willing him to drop it. She knew he wouldn't. "Maybe you'll just have to stop getting yourself arrested."

Logan looked at her, and smiled. Was he enjoying this?

"Of course," she continued, "I can see how that might put a crimp in your social life."

"Whereas it might liven yours right up," he said, leaning forward. "I hear making out in a jail cell is one of guys' top ten sexual fantasies."

Veronica frowned, trying to ignore the look in Logan's eyes, trying to ignore the fact that she'd done just that with Lamb not so long ago. "And one I'm sure you've already fulfilled. You did have bunkmates while you were in there, didn't you?"

Logan shifted even closer to her, dropping his voice. "I forgot. You don't like to be tied up."

"Only by people I trust," she said, and she knew she'd gone too far when the look on his face abruptly changed. Score one for friendship. He stood up, and she shook her head. "Logan -"

Logan didn't turn back as he left, and after a minute, she looked away. Parker was standing nearby, with a look on her face that couldn't exactly be called friendly. Great. Maybe Parker wasn't as over Logan as she'd let on. Which meant that Veronica had possibly just screwed up two friendships in the course of a single conversation. Hardly a record, but still fairly impressive.

It was, Veronica thought, time to take advantage of the open bar, regardless of her standing 'no drinking in the same room as Madison Sinclair' rule. She scanned the room for Mac and Bronson, who were nowhere to be seen, and shot a half-hearted smile at Parker that Parker didn't return.

As Dick made a beeline for her, she quickly decided that it was well past the time she should be leaving. Even with alcohol on her side, there were still some things she didn't want to have to deal with.

Ignoring the shout of "Ronnie!" behind her, she wove her way out of the suite and towards the elevator. As the doors slid open and she stepped inside, she sighed, resisting the sudden urge to bang her head against the walls.

Well, she thought, already exhausted. That went well.

And school didn't even start until tomorrow.

-

"This is totally going to be the best year ever!"

Veronica smiled indulgently at Hallie as she finished squeezing lemons for the lemonade. She was usually more of a ready-made kind of girl, but Hallie had insisted it was tradition; all part and parcel of maintaining the Theta Betas' squeaky clean image. If she was being really honest with herself, she didn't mind. It took her mind off other things, at any rate.

"Don't forget the sugar," she said, and Hallie looked confused for a minute, before smiling.

"Duh," she said, picking up a measuring cup. "I was just about to. I wouldn't forget that twice."

Veronica shook her head, and started pulling glasses from the cupboard. A year ago, she reflected, she had been working undercover to investigate the role the Theta Betas had played in a series of rapes on campus. Now, she was an official, fully-fledged member of the sorority.

A lot had changed in a year.

"Do we have any more glasses?" she asked, and Hallie shrugged.

"Check the cupboards over there."

Veronica opened one of the cupboards, and Hallie shut it quickly.

"Not those ones," she corrected. "Those are for the real party."

Check. On the surface, lemonade and cookies. Hiding under the sink, enough alcohol to incapacitate a football team.

"So," Hallie said, as Veronica found the right cupboard. "When are you going to move in with us?"

Veronica tensed. She might have resigned herself to being in a sorority, but there were still some lines she wasn't quite prepared to cross.

"Um," she said. "I don't know. I mean, my dad really needs me at home ..."

Hallie pouted, but eventually she just shrugged, and Veronica relaxed a little. "Anyway," she continued, "it's going to rock. I can't wait to see the pledges we get this year."

"And the pledges the Pi Sigs get," one of the other girls added, entering the kitchen.

Hallie's smile widened. "I know, right? Freshmen are so much fun."

The other girl - Kelly, Veronica thought - smiled conspiratorially. "So, does that mean you're officially back on the market?"

Hallie shot her a look that Veronica didn't quite catch. After a minute, she shrugged. "Anyway, that's old news. Younger guys are so much better."

_Younger than what?_ Veronica wanted to ask, but she was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. Hallie squealed, and Kelly clapped her hands together excitedly.

"They're here," Hallie said, taking one of the trays as Veronica filled some of the glasses with lemonade. She checked her name tag, grabbed a pitcher, and resigned herself to the next few hours.

A house full of prospective Theta Beta pledges, and nowhere for her to hide.

Veronica hadn't expected to see anyone she recognised - she wasn't exactly the social butterfly of Hearst College - so she had to do a double take when she saw Parker talking to one of the Theta Betas. She made her way over to where they were standing, holding out a glass of lemonade as a sort of peace offering.

After a moment, Parker took it, giving her a tight smile.

"Are you rushing Theta Beta?" Veronica asked, after a minute of uncomfortable silence. She didn't add _again_; she didn't think Parker needed to be reminded of that.

Parker shrugged. "I'm thinking about it. I'm not sure if it's really my scene, but ... maybe I could use some more friends."

Veronica wasn't sure whether that was an insult or an invitation. She decided to assume it was the latter.

"Logan and I are just friends, you know," she said. "At the party, we were just talking."

Parker nodded, and smiled again, this time a little more genuinely. "I know. And it's not like I want him back. I mean, I'm happy being just friends. It's just hard seeing him with other girls, you know?"

Veronica nodded. She knew.

"Was it like that after you guys broke up?"

"A little," Veronica said. "It gets better. And we've been broken up for a long time ..."

She let the implication sit there for a while. She was over Logan.

Parker, not so much.

"I should let you go," Parker said finally. "But ... thanks, Veronica."

Veronica smiled as Parker left. One friendship fixed, one to go.

In the meantime, she had other duties to see to.

She spotted a prospective pledge on one of the couches, being talked to death by Hallie. Her expression was frozen in a polite grimace, probably a mirror of the one Veronica had worn a year ago. Grabbing her by the hand, Veronica shot Hallie an apologetic smile, and pulled the girl over to a nearby corner.

"Sorry," she said, once they were alone. "You looked like you could use a little rescuing."

The girl nodded, relaxing a little now that she was away from Hallie's over-enthusiastic sales pitch. "Thanks."

"No problem. I'm Veronica, by the way."

"Sarah," the girl said, indicating her name tag.

"Don't worry about Hallie," Veronica said, and then, as the unofficial Theta Beta choir started up on the stairwell, "or about the singing. They don't do it all the time, I promise."

"Thank god," Sarah said, and then looked at Veronica. "Um, no offense. I just meant -"

"No offense taken," Veronica assured her. "Truth is" - she remembered Marjorie, and the words that had almost gotten through to her last year - "we're all incredibly lame, but we're like family. The trade-off is you have to wear a matching dress occasionally."

Standing on the other side of those words, Veronica realised she might actually believe them. The Theta Betas were ... not exactly who she had imagined befriending when she came to Hearst. But they were, amazingly enough, people she genuinely cared about.

"The dresses aren't that bad," Sarah said, and Veronica raised an eyebrow. "Okay," she admitted finally. "They really are."

Veronica laughed, and excused herself a few minutes later as Hallie began to approach them.

"What did you think?" Hallie asked, grabbing Veronica's arm.

"She was cool," Veronica said. Friendly? Check. Didn't live for floral sundresses and a capella choirs? Also check.

"Awesome," Hallie said, and Veronica couldn't help smiling, just a little. Hallie's enthusiasm could be contagious, at times. "I can't wait for the party tonight!"

-

"Here to report a crime?"

Veronica leaned against the door to Lamb's office. "More like a missing person."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah." She took a step forward, and he leaned back in his chair. "You see, I haven't seen my boyfriend in, oh, at least forty-eight hours."

"I think we have forms you can fill out for that," he said, twirling a pen between his fingers as she perched on the edge of his desk.

"Mmm, not good enough," she said, pretending to think about it. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for a full investigation."

"I don't know that we have the manpower for that sort of thing," he said. He reached out, taking her hand and tugging her forward until her knees bumped against his. She grinned, sliding onto his lap and settling her arms around his shoulders.

"That's okay," she said, shrugging. "I was getting kind of sick of him, anyway."

Lamb didn't reply, just put his hands on her waist to pull her forward, and she kissed him, gently, her lips brushing against his.

"Sheriff, I found those -"

Sacks froze as Veronica turned around to look at him, managing to look at once conspiratorial and apologetic.

"Um, never mind," he said, as Veronica stood to lean back against the desk. "I'll just leave them at the front desk with Inga."

"You do that," Lamb said.

After a brief pause, as if deciding whether to comment further - luckily for him, he didn't - Sacks left.

Veronica glanced back at Lamb. "Does he always have to do that?"

He shrugged. "I think it's in his job description or something. Either that, or he's angling for a raise."

"You should give it to him," she said. Lamb took her hand again, but she stayed resolutely where she was; she wouldn't put it past Sacks to make a sudden reappearance.

"So, does this visit mean you've actually decided to spend time with me?" he asked. "Or are you too good for me, now that you're back in college?"

"Definitely too good for you," she said. "I've got to keep my options open. I mean, do you have any idea how many awesome frat guys are going to be at this awesome party tonight?"

"Lucky you," he deadpanned. "So, what time do you want me to pick you up?"

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "No can do. Private pledge party. You're not invited."

He snapped his fingers in mock disappointment, and she smiled.

"Trust me, I wouldn't even be going if I didn't have to."

Lamb just nodded, and when he tugged her forward again, she let him, sliding easily onto his lap. She thought he was going to kiss her, but then he stopped, stroking her fingers absently.

"Be careful," he said, drawing back a little.

"Who, me?" she asked, feigning nonchalance. "I'm always careful."

He looked unconvinced, so she kissed him, drawing his bottom lip in between hers. He moaned a little, shifting in his seat so she was pressed closer to him, and she pulled back, instinctively glancing towards the doorway.

"What time do you have to go?" he asked, and she leaned over to check the clock on his desk.

"Um, now," she said, getting up, and Lamb shifted again. "Don't want to miss all that fun."

He shot her a look, and she nodded, raising her hands preemptively.

"I know," she said. "Be careful."

-

Hallie might have been excited about the party, but Veronica hadn't been kidding - she would have eagerly skipped it if she could. Being in a house full of Pi Sigs wasn't exactly her idea of a good time. A house full of Pi Sigs still in the midst of their back to school drunken haze? Well, safe to say that whoever first came up with the idea of the secret pledge party, hadn't had Veronica in mind.

She turned down a drink from Siobhann at the door, looking around the room for Sarah. She'd been invited, but that didn't necessarily mean she was going to show. Veronica wouldn't have, a year ago, if she hadn't had other reasons for accepting.

She didn't see Sarah, but she did see Dick, talking to a Pi Sig pledge who looked -

No. Oh, no. Veronica strode over to them, hands on her hips, and Dick looked around, smiling.

"Ronnie," he said. "Rockin' party, huh?"

"Dick," she greeted him coldly. "Logan."

Logan at least had the decency to look embarrassed, though whether it was because he was at the party, or because he was there in a bow tie and no shirt, she couldn't tell.

Dick clapped her on the back, apparently oblivious to the tension. "Meet our newest Pi Sig pledge."

"You're rushing a fraternity?" she asked Logan, incredulous.

He looked away.

"Nah, not really," Dick said, laughing. "Cool cover, though, isn't it?"

Actually, Veronica thought it wasn't much of a cover at all, but she didn't say so.

"It was Dick's idea," Logan mumbled, so low she could barely hear him over the crowd.

"Yeah, and it's awesome," Dick said. "Our boy Logan here was feeling kinda bummed. So I thought, what better place for a rebound than a party full of hot, slutty, drunk chicks?"

"Rebound from Parker?" Veronica asked, and Dick scoffed.

"Parker who? Tonight, there is no Parker. Tonight, there are only" - he glanced around, his eyes following a Theta Beta pledge as she walked past them - "freshmen."

"Who haven't been here long enough to know to stay the hell away from you," she guessed.

"Exactly." Dick looked altogether too proud of himself.

Veronica looked at Logan, but he just shook his head and left. After a second, she turned back to Dick. "You know Parker might be here tonight?"

"So?" He shrugged. "Worst case scenario, she sees him making out with some sorority chick and they have angry, drunken hate sex. What's he got to lose?"

With a sigh, Veronica left him to follow Logan. She finally caught up to him on the other side of the room, where he was making his way towards the kitchen.

"So that was Dick's big plan?" she asked. "Pose as a Pi Sig pledge to pick up girls?"

"Yeah," he said, slowing down. "Pretty stupid, huh?"

Stupid, but not entirely unexpected. "You really shouldn't be here, you know."

He stopped completely then, turning to face her. "Yeah, I know. You've made it perfectly clear that you don't want me anywhere near your life."

"That's not true," she said, waiting until he looked at her. "Logan, it's not. I'm ... sorry about what I said at the party, okay?" She took a breath. "And for not telling you about Lamb."

"But not for dating him?" he asked.

"No," she said, averting her gaze. "Not for that."

After a minute, he nodded. His expression was falsely bright, but the hurt she'd seen lurking there a minute ago was gone. "Well, this has been an excellent therapy session."

She laughed, then, and even Logan cracked a smile. "So we're good?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah," he said. "We're good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I have drunk chicks to scam on."

She watched him go, and then scanned the party again. She spotted Sarah over by the entrance, and wove her way through the crowd to meet her.

Sarah was finishing a shot when Veronica got there, her face flushed in the light. She smiled when she saw Veronica, downing another shot for good measure.

"This," she said, as Veronica reached her, "is definitely more my scene."

Veronica smiled faintly, edging her away from a pair of hovering Pi Sigs. "It's pretty cool," she agreed unenthusiastically.

"Is this what it's always like?" she asked, and Veronica shook her head. Sarah looked disappointed.

"You aren't writing an article for the school newspaper by any chance, are you?" Veronica asked. Sarah looked confused, and she shook her head. "Never mind. Have fun, I guess, and come find me if you need anything."

Sarah nodded her agreement, and Veronica let her go. Maybe Sarah was more like the usual Theta Beta material than she thought.

She kept to herself after that, staying at the edge of the party and studiously avoiding Dick, who had apparently made it his mission in life to annoy her as much as possible. She was momentarily distracted by Siobhann, and was happy to have someone familiar and mostly sober to talk to until Siobhann left and she turned around, only to see Dick standing right in front of her.

"Veronica," he said, and she sighed. Calling her by her full name was a start, at least. "Having fun at the party?"

"I was," she said.

If he caught her implication, he didn't let on. "Logan looked right at home here, didn't? Think I could get him to join up?"

Actually, she thought Logan had looked anything but right at home. "I don't think so," was all she said.

Dick shrugged, unconcerned. "Whatever."

"Where is Logan, anyway?" she asked, resigning herself to the conversation. "Got him serving panty droppers to naive pledges?"

"Actually, I think I saw him hooking up with some chick," he said. "Why, you jealous?"

She ignored the question. "As long as he's having fun. And as much fun as this is -"

"Hey, no problem," he said, backing away. "I've got to find some chicks of my own, anyway."

"What, no Madison?" she asked, and took a last look behind her to enjoy Dick's expression as she left.

She didn't get far before Kelly approached her, dragging a pledge who was half-conscious and barely able to stand.

"Veronica, thank god," she said. "You're sober, right?"

Veronica nodded, and Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Would you be able to take her outside and wait for the Safe Ride Home cart? I'd do it, but I'm afraid they'll try to take me, too."

"Sure thing," Veronica agreed, as Kelly handed the girl over. She manoeuvred them awkwardly out of the house, and sat the girl down on the sidewalk once they were safely outside.

"Are you okay?" she asked, and the girl nodded. "What's your name?"

"Belinda," the girl said, and Veronica nodded. At least she could still remember that.

"Do you know where your room is?"

"Bennis," she groaned.

They didn't have to wait much longer for the Safe Ride Home cart, and Veronica hauled Belinda into it as gently as she could.

"Bennis Hall," she told the driver, and waited as the cart drove away. Once it was out of sight, she turned back, and made her way reluctantly back into the house. At least, she thought, her night probably couldn't get any worse.

There was some kind of commotion as she entered, and she frowned, looking at the crowd that had gathered over by the kitchen. She moved forward, trying to get close enough to see what was happening, and stopped suddenly as she reached the doorway.

And quickly revoked what she'd thought less than a minute before.

In front of her, Hallie was lying unconscious on the kitchen floor.


	2. Wake Up And Smell The Poison

"Honey?"

Veronica looked up as her dad entered the room. The news was written all over his face, as if she had ever needed to ask, but she waited for him to speak.

"That was your friend Siobhann. I'm sorry ..."

_I'm sorry._ Two of the most versatile words in the English language. They could be used to mean just about anything, given the right context.

In this case, they meant _I'm sorry, Hallie's dead._

She wasn't sure what she had expected; guilt, maybe, or at least some kind of shock. Instead, all she felt was a numb sort of grief. She had liked Hallie; for all her faults, she had been a friend.

And now, she was dead.

"Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head, and he came over to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him, feeling his familiar, comforting warmth, and blinked back tears. She could cry for Hallie. Maybe it would even make her feel better. But it wouldn't accomplish what she needed to do now, which was to find whoever was responsible for Hallie's death and make them pay.

"If you don't want to go to class -"

"No," she said, her mind already made up. "I'll go."

The last thing she wanted was to sit around the house all day and mope, and besides, it was nearly time for her to get ready.

"Okay." He sounded worried, still, but she flashed him the best smile she could manage, and started to gather up her books.

Life, she learned long ago, didn't stop for anything. And neither did she.

-

"And finally, your assignments."

Veronica looked up as Landry spoke, trying to show some interest. Normally, the first week of classes was her favourite; full of new possibilities, not yet tainted with the sort of familiarity that could easily turn to boredom. Somehow, this year's classes seemed to have lost their sheen.

"Last year, those of you who were in my class should remember I had you come up with a scenario for the perfect murder. This year, we're going to be doing something a little different. You'll each be given a murder mystery to solve, which you'll have until the end of the semester to hand in. The cases are all new, so you can forget about asking former students for their answer keys" - there was a smattering of laughter, which Veronica didn't join in - "but you're welcome to use whatever other resources are at your disposal."

Great, Veronica thought, letting out a breath as the new TA began handing out assignments. Another murder to solve. As if she didn't get enough of that in her free time.

Her reluctance quickly turned to dread, however, as she looked over the assignment. A young woman killed in a crowded room, and a list of suspects a page long. Somebody up there must really hate her.

She was about to raise her hand when Landry spoke again.

"And no, before any of you ask, there will be no switching assignments."

Well, so much for that idea.

As the class started filing out, she gathered up her things, glancing at Landry as she stood. He looked like he was going to say something, maybe ask her if she was okay, and she quickly hurried away. It was difficult to keep being fine when everybody kept asking about it.

She kept her head down as she made her way through the campus, which was why she didn't see Laurel until the other girl called out to her. Reluctantly, she stopped, allowing Laurel to catch up to her.

"Veronica," Laurel said. Her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she had been crying, and she reached out to place a hand on Veronica's shoulder.

"Hey, Laurel," she said quietly.

"Siobhann called you."

It wasn't quite a question, but she nodded, anyway.

"It's so ..." Laurel looked around, as if the right words were hiding somewhere just out of her line of sight, but eventually gave up, and shrugged. "I can't believe it."

"Yeah," Veronica said. "Me, neither."

That, technically, was a lie. Veronica could believe it all too well; it was the story of her life, after all.

"I keep thinking she's just going to turn up, you know?"

Veronica nodded again, though Laurel didn't really seem to need her input, continuing on without pausing.

"Like, I'll be in the house, just getting dressed or having breakfast, and I'll look up, as if she's just going to walk in and everything's going to be fine. And then I'll remember, and it's just ..." She gestured frantically. "Horrible."

"Yeah," Veronica said again. She knew that feeling.

"Anyway," Laurel said, apparently deciding there was a point she needed to get to. "The funeral is next week. It's just family, but we were thinking about having a party. Kind of a wake, you know? In memory of Hallie."

Veronica nodded. It should seem wildly inappropriate to throw a party after one of your friends just died, but somehow, it didn't.

"So, you'll be there? Next Friday. The dress code is all black, obviously. And it's open invitation, just friends really, but if there's anyone you want to bring ..."

Veronica nodded again. She didn't really know what to say. Laurel started to leave, but then stopped, turning back to face her.

"And, Veronica." She paused. "You should come by the house, okay?"

"Sure," she said, without feeling. She should do a lot of things. What she was going to do, however, was solve the problem in front of her, any way she could.

-

Step one was going to see Lamb. That much was a no-brainer. As the sheriff, he was probably in the best position to be able to help her. As her boyfriend, he was probably the person most likely to want to.

Sacks looked up as she entered, a knowing smile on his face. She tried to return it, but it came out kind of half-hearted.

"Hey, Veronica," he said. She opened her mouth, but he interrupted her before she could speak. "He's in his office."

"Great," she said. One of these days, she was going to have to stop by for some completely non-Lamb related purpose, just to keep him on his toes. "Thanks."

Lamb was sitting at his desk when she reached his office, and he stood up when he saw her. "How are you holding up?"

She smiled grimly. No _hello,_ no _nice to see you_; just a reminder of why she was here.

"Just fine," she said, suddenly not feeling fine at all. "What else would I be?"

Lamb looked like he regretted his choice of words, and she glanced away.

"I was there," she said, after a minute. "At the party. In the house. When it happened ..."

"Veronica -"

"I was right there." Her throat burned with the words.

"This wasn't your fault."

"What, it was just some kind of accident?" A part of her really wanted him to say yes.

When it came to Neptune, she'd stopped believing in accidents. He looked away, and it shouldn't have been a surprise.

"At first, we thought it might just have been alcohol poisoning."

"And now?"

"The coroner found liquid drainer in her system."

"Someone fed her drain cleaner?" She looked up at Lamb, appalled, and then just shook her head. "Wow. If a couple of jocks turn up dead next week in a naked double suicide, I'm officially blaming Christian Slater."

"I think he has an alibi," Lamb said. It wasn't quite an attempt at a joke, but she smiled a little, anyway.

"I guess we'll just have to look at the people who were actually at the party, then. Do you have any suspects?"

"Veronica," he said, in the tone he got when he was about to say something she wouldn't want to hear. "You know I'm not at liberty to discuss an open case."

"It's never stopped you before," she said. He clenched his jaw, but said nothing. "Come on, seriously?"

He still didn't answer her, and after a minute, he changed the subject. "Have any idea who could have got their hands on the drain cleaner? I'm not always up to speed on what kids are drinking these days, but I'm guessing a bottle of Drano isn't your usual party fare."

Veronica closed her eyes, and almost laughed.

"What?" he asked.

"The question is, who couldn't have?" She looked back up at him. "It was under the sink. And so was about half the alcohol for the party. Anyone could have gotten their hands on it."

"Which means anyone could have given it to Hallie."

"Exactly. And if she was drinking - not a very big if - anybody could have slipped it onto her drink. I doubt she'd have noticed."

Lamb nodded, looking thoughtful. She contemplated about pushing again for a list of suspects, but right now, she doubted he had any better idea than she did; in fact, she was probably ahead, considering she had actually been at the party.

And the best place to find other people who had been there, naturally, was at the Theta Beta house. It looked like she had another reason to go to Hallie's wake.

-

The Theta Beta house was a sea of black, but not exactly the kind you'd expect to see at an average funeral. Some of the Theta Betas were dressed relatively demurely, in knee-length skirts and button-up shirts; others, in sparkly tops and low-cut jeans, looked like they were about to hit a rave.

Well, it was something, anyway. And for a party in honour of Hallie, it didn't seem terribly out of place.

"Veronica," Siobhann greeted her, as she stepped inside. "Are you okay? How have you been? We haven't seen you much the last couple of weeks."

"Yeah," Veronica said. To admit, even to herself, that she'd been avoiding the house seemed a little silly, but that was exactly what she'd been doing. "I'm sorry. I've been ... busy."

Siobhann looked like she understood. Veronica wasn't even sure that she understood it herself.

"It's okay," Siobhann said. "We just missed you, is all. Here, let me take your coat."

Veronica handed it over. Even without it, she felt overdressed.

"Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm okay," Veronica said, but Siobhann ignored her, grabbing a drink from a passing tray.

"Here," she said, and Veronica grimaced as she took it. "Enjoy it. It's probably going to be your last for a while."

Ah, yes. One of the more predictable results of Hallie's death had been the address given by Dean O'Dell earlier that week. Among the necessary platitudes - mourning the tragic loss of life, remembering Hallie as a bright and dedicated student - had been a list of new restrictions placed on the Greek system. Parties, usually gaining the benefit of the administration's blind eye, were effectively banned, and alcohol restricted on all campus properties. Veronica doubted any raids on the dorms were being planned, but security had already doubled around Greek row.

What all of it meant to the Theta Betas were seriously mourning not only the loss of Hallie, but the loss of more than half their social calendar. More than half a dozen events had been cancelled already, and that was just the official ones. It wasn't a stretch to think that the administration probably knew about this party, too.

Luckily for them, they hadn't tried cancelling what was officially a wake. Veronica would have expected riots.

"But try to have fun, okay?" Siobhann asked, sounding more cheerful than she looked. "That's what we're here for."

Funny, she'd thought they were here to say goodbye to Hallie.

"Sure," she said. "Hey, do you know if Parker was at the pledge party?"

"Your friend? The blonde one?"

Veronica nodded.

Siobhann thought for a minute, and then shook her head. "She might have been."

"Do you know if she's here now?"

"I haven't seen her."

"Okay," Veronica said. Siobhann left a minute later, laying a gentle hand on Veronica's shoulder as if she was the one who needed comforting. Veronica wondered if anyone had been around to comfort Siobhann.

Veronica would do it, but she wasn't exactly the comforting type. Besides, she was here on a mission.

If Parker had been at the party, she might have seen something. Of course, if she was hoping to identify the people who had been with Hallie around the time she died, Parker might not be her best bet. For that, she really needed the Theta Betas, unless she wanted to willingly subject herself to talking to a bunch of Pi Sigs.

Some might say that questioning people about the death of one of their friends while at a wake for said friend was in bad taste. Veronica had never much cared for the rules of polite society, but even she was starting to feel a little bad about it. They were officially in mourning, after all. Some of the people around her even looked sad.

And everyone around her looked drunk, which wasn't exactly conducive to getting coherent answers out of people.

She made her way to the kitchen, setting aside her drink in the process. Most people had avoided this part of the house, which she supposed was a fairly natural reaction. It just wasn't hers.

Checking to make sure she was alone, she bent down and opened the cupboard beneath the sink. It was mostly empty; a few cleaning supplies still lay at the back, but there was no alcohol, and no drain cleaner. Probably taken in as evidence, she thought. Either that, or whoever had given it to Hallie had gotten rid of it afterwards.

She closed the cupboard, and turned back around. There was nothing to indicate that someone had died here less than two weeks ago, other than the unconscious circle people seemed to have drawn around it. Which made it a pretty perfect place for Veronica to enjoy the party, if that was what she decided to do.

She couldn't see anyone out in the foyer that she recognised, other than the Theta Betas and a handful of Pi Sigs. Logan and Parker were both absent, as was Dick, which was a small mercy. Wallace hadn't arrived, either, and Veronica frowned, digging her cell phone out of her bag to tap out a quick text message. She'd called him earlier and gotten the machine, which wasn't unusual, but she was surprised that he hadn't called her back. There were a lot of people she wanted to talk to tonight, but Wallace was the only one who had nothing to do with the case.

She was about to move back into the foyer to try to find and question some of the more sober Theta Betas when she quickly rethought her decision. In the centre of the room, a small group of people had gathered. Veronica had avoided it mostly on principle - there were a few too many Pi Sigs there for her taste - but now that she looked closer, she could see some sort of card game going on. And the people playing it, none of whom were still fully dressed.

Strip poker at a wake? Veronica had expected a lot of things tonight, but nothing quite that horrifying. Averting her eyes as she slipped past the group, she decided to make her way upstairs. At the very least, it might be quieter up there. And, more to the point, she might have a chance to explore Hallie's room.

There were people leaning against the wall upstairs, talking in small groups, others sitting alone on the stairs. Most of the bedrooms were occupied, the doors closed or half closed depending on the activities inside. Hallie's room was at the end of the hall, and Veronica moved towards it slowly, stopping as she heard voices inside.

She took another step forward, and saw half a dozen Theta Betas gathered in the room. Most of them were sitting, on the bed or on the floor, looking through pictures or at the posters lining the walls.

That took care of that idea, then. She was about to leave, but something stopped her, and she stood watching as the girls inside continued to talk.

"I remember that," Becky said, her mouth twisted in a half-smile. "That was our freshman year. She was so excited I thought she was going to burst."

An even more excitable Hallie? Veronica was almost glad she hadn't been around then.

"She was so nice to me when I was a pledge," one of the other girls said, glancing down at the floor. "One time we were doing this - god, what was it? That stupid charity thing. And we were all supposed to wear orange, because we were going out to, like, orange farms or something. But I didn't have anything orange, because it's a really bad colour on me, and god, whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed. But Hallie had this orange dress, because she looked good in, like, practically everything, and she told me I could borrow it. Like, I didn't even have to ask. And I ended up getting orange juice all over it, and she wasn't even mad or anything. She said it matched the colour of the dress, so you could hardly even see it."

The other girls started nodding, and Veronica turned to leave, but she stopped when somebody called her name.

"Veronica," Laurel said, getting up to meet her. "Don't go. Come in. We were just -"

"Talking about Hallie," Veronica said. "I heard."

"Come on," Laurel said. "Why don't you tell us something you remember about her?"

Veronica wasn't sure which was worse - believing that nobody was mourning Hallie, or having to face evidence that some people were. And what was she supposed to say, anyway? _When I first met Hallie, I thought she was a brainless bimbo?_ How about, _I'm trying to find out who slipped drain cleaner into her drink, I don't suppose any of you saw anything like that?_

"She spelled my name wrong," she said instead, when it became clear that Laurel wasn't going to let her leave without at least saying something. "When I came to the rush luncheon last year. She said she had a Shi Tzu named Veronica, and I've kind of been wondering ever since whether her dog's name was spelled with a 'k,' or she was just really bad with names."

Laurel smiled, and a few of the Theta Betas laughed. Then Kelly, seemingly without warning, began to cry, and Veronica took the opportunity to slip away as the rest of the Theta Betas rushed over to comfort her. She considered checking her phone again, and then decided it didn't really matter; whether or not Wallace was intending to show, she suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.

-

"What's the deal?" Veronica asked as Wallace opened the door. "You don't call, you don't write, you don't show up to my parties. Is there someone else? Have you got a new best friend?"

"Hey, Veronica," Wallace said, looking somewhat bemused as he shut the door behind her. "Come in. Make yourself at home."

"So," she said, sitting on the bed. "Seriously, what's up? I tried calling you all week. I left, like, a thousand messages on your phone. Your roommate probably thinks I'm some kind of crazy stalker."

"You mean Piz?"

"Piz is still your roommate?" She leaned forward. "How did I not know that? Man, you and Mac really need to break out of your comfort zones."

"Says the girl who's still living at home," he pointed out, and she shot him a mock-annoyed glare. He smiled a little, and sat down beside her. "So, how have you been?"

"Apart from really wishing people would stop asking me that? I'm fine." She thought for a minute. "Well, not fine. But I will be."

"Once you hunt down the people that did this and punish them?"

Veronica smiled, wanly. Wallace knew her too well.

"Something like that." She sat back, curling her legs up beneath her. "I invited you to the party last night."

"Yeah," he said, and she raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't come."

"No, I didn't."

She sighed. This was like pulling teeth. "Any particular reason for that? Or should I conclude that you really are blowing me off?"

He looked over at her, and shrugged. "Sorry, but I've kind of got a lot on my plate right now."

"Like finding out how many cute girls are on your floor?"

"Like basketball."

"Basketball?" she asked. "What are you, afraid they aren't going to start you again? Because they'd be crazy not to."

"It's not like that," he said, and paused. "It's about point shaving."

"Point shaving?" She gasped, pretending to be shocked. "Wallace Fennel, say it ain't so."

"Funny," he said, leaning away from her. "But I'm serious. These guys have been coming around, asking everyone about last year's games."

"So what are you worried about?" she asked. "You don't cheat."

He just looked at her, and her eyes widened as comprehension set in.

"They're asking about you? What are they, crazy?"

"They don't think so. At first, I thought it was just going to go away, you know? I mean, I was sick a couple of times last year, and I played anyway, so I figured they'd just let it go. But they've been coming around a lot."

"Want me to sort them out for you?" she asked. "Tell them to buzz off?"

He laughed, but he still looked worried. "I don't really think that's going to do the trick."

"All right," she said, more seriously. "What have they been saying?"

He shrugged. "I was in all the games they said looked suspicious."

"Wallace, you were in all the games."

"Not the ones at the beginning of the year," he said. "Just the ones in the second half of the season."

"And that's when it started," she guessed. "Do you think someone's setting you up?"

"On the team?" He looked shocked, and Veronica had to remind herself that not everyone was as cynical as her. "No way. They wouldn't do that."

"Well, if these guys are coming after you, whoever is responsible seems happy enough to sit back and let you take the fall for it."

"Did you ever think that maybe no-one's responsible?"

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "The stuff they were saying sounded pretty convincing. But maybe it was a senior or somebody who's graduated already."

"Maybe," she said. Wallace was looking at her, concern written all over his face. "Don't worry. Whoever's responsible, I'm going to find out."

"Yeah," he said, relaxing a little. "Thanks, Veronica. I mean, I know you're probably -"

"Hey," she said. "Don't worry about it. I could use something to take my mind off everything, anyway."

"Yeah," he said again. "It's just that, if I don't get this cleared up soon, they won't start me. They might even kick me off the team. And since I'm on a scholarship ..."

"That's not going to happen," she assured him. "I will find out who really did it. No friend of mine is going down for a crime he didn't commit."

"Thanks, Veronica."

"All part of the best friend package." She got up to move towards the door, then stopped. "Just so I have all the facts. You are innocent, aren't you?"

His response was to throw a pillow at her, which she ducked. She looked back at him as she left, and he was almost smiling, which she thought was a good start.

_All part of the package,_ she thought, as she made her way out towards her car. One of these days, she'd have to learn to take on one case at a time.

She could only hope her classes this semester weren't going to be too difficult. She already had more than enough to worry about.


	3. Answers And Questions

"Shouldn't you be out partying or something?"

Veronica managed a weak smile as she looked up at her father. "It's Sunday."

"Well then shouldn't you be, I don't know, out holding a bake sale? Hanging out with your friends? Not getting into any trouble whatsoever?"

She put down her pen. She'd been staring at her assignment for the last hour, and it wasn't like she was getting any work done. "What, a girl can't use her weekends for studying?"

"I just don't want you spending all your time cooped up here."

Great. How many fathers of college girls worried that their daughters weren't partying enough? Not many, probably.

"I just have a lot of work to do," she said. Keith looked unconvinced, but he let the matter drop.

She wanted to reassure him that she wasn't spending all her time brooding over Hallie. The truth was, there weren't many parties to go to these days. If the Theta Betas thought the initial restrictions on their social calendar had been harsh, it had only gotten worse over the past week. Security was now everywhere, especially outside the Greek houses, and the dean was personally vetting all requests for social functions. All in all, it didn't really add up to an environment conducive to a lot of bake sales.

She glanced down at her assignment again, still accusingly blank. Even when she could manage to get herself together enough to work on it, it was no good. She had no idea where to start.

That was the whole problem.

Pushing it aside, she got up off the couch. Her assignment might seem to be mocking her, but there were other things she could be working on, and she was determined to do at least something today.

-

The sheriff's department was quiet when Veronica got there; unsurprising, for a Sunday afternoon. She nodded at the weekend receptionist, and made her way through to Lamb's office, smiling at him from the doorway.

He got up when he saw her, greeting her with a quick kiss, and she leaned back against the desk.

"Keeping busy, I see," she said.

"Crime never sleeps," he responded, smiling.

"But apparently it does take a lazy Sunday afternoon nap."

Lamb was looking at her curiously, so she stepped forward, throwing her arms around his neck as she kissed him. He responded enthusiastically, his hands moving to her waist, and after a minute, she pulled free.

"So," she said, and he rolled his eyes.

"Veronica -"

"What?" she asked, trying her best to look innocent. "I just stopped by to see how your day was going."

"You mean, you just stopped by to see how my investigation was going."

She shrugged, and his hands fell to his sides. "What, I can't be interested in your work?"

He just looked at her, and she sighed.

"Okay," she said. "I admit it. I'm curious. Is that so wrong?"

"Only when it means you start interfering with my cases," he said.

Fine. It looked like she was going to have to try a different tactic.

She looked down at the floor, and wondered if wringing her hands would be too much. "Hallie was a friend."

When she looked back up, his jaw was clenched tightly, but she could see him give in. "Fine," he said, his voice resigned. "What do you want to know?"

She had to force herself not to smile, in case he changed his mind. "Do you have any leads?"

"A couple."

"And?"

He hesitated. He wasn't making this easy.

"I'm not getting involved," she promised. "I just want to know."

After a second, he shrugged. "We've been talking to witnesses. Most of them didn't see much, but a few people said they saw Hallie with a group of guys at the party, just before ..."

"Pi Sigs?" she asked, and he nodded.

"Unfortunately, nobody seems to know these guys' names, or even what they looked like. We're trying to get to the bottom of it."

"So you're looking at the Pi Sigs?"

He nodded again, and she took a breath.

"What about the Theta Betas?"

He didn't say anything for a beat too long, and she rolled her eyes.

"Do you think -"

"We're keeping our options open," he said, his face impassive.

"Are you going to pull them in for questioning?"

He shrugged, which probably meant yes. She wondered if he'd warn her before he started moving on the Theta Betas, or if that crossed his self-imposed line of too much involvement.

"What about me?" she asked, taking a step forward so she was right in front of him. "I was at the party. Are you going to haul me in here? Stick me in a holding cell?"

He smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Should I?"

"Only if you think I'm guilty." It was an invitation, sort of, but he didn't take the bait, and eventually she shrugged. "Well, I guess that's my cue."

"Veronica," he said, and she waited. "I don't have to tell you to stay out of this, right?"

She smiled. "I know. It's police business."

"I'm serious."

"So am I," she said. "I'm not going to interfere. I just need some answers."

Lamb didn't say anything else as she left, and Veronica thought she was free and clear until she was almost outside.

"Dick?" she asked, stopping suddenly. There could be any number of reasons Dick Casablancas would be at the sheriff's department, she told herself. It wasn't necessarily related to the case.

Sure. She believed that.

He wasn't smiling as he turned around. "Here for a little afternoon nookie?"

She decided to ignore the question. With Dick, it was usually the safest option. She shook her head instead, and was about to leave when he spoke again.

"You should really learn to keep your boyfriend in line."

"Why, did he haul you and some of your buddies in? Let me guess. Public drunkenness? Being a general menace to society?"

"Hardly," he said, taking a step towards her. "We were just chilling at the house when your boyfriend busts in like he owns the place. Said he had some questions to ask us."

He made air quotes over the word 'questions,' and shot a resentful look back at Lamb's office.

"He hauled me in here, like, I have rights, you know? And this guy starts asking me all these questions, about Hallie and the party and stuff. Like I even care. I mean, yeah, it sucks that she's dead and all, 'cause she was really hot, but it's not like I had anything to do with it."

Veronica wasn't smiling now, either. "And?"

"And what?"

"Did you tell them anything?"

"Yeah, right." He smirked. "Like I'm going to rat out my brothers."

She stepped forward, then, glaring up at him with her most menacing look. "You're not going to rat out your brothers?"

He rolled his eyes, but he took a step backwards, anyway. "It's not like there's anything to rat out," he quickly backtracked. "I didn't see anything."

"Dick."

"Okay, yeah, maybe she was talking to some of the guys. She was pretty wasted, you know? That was kinda the point of the party. I didn't see anything when, you know."

He drew a hand across his neck, and she fought the urge to smack his face into something hard.

"These guys," she said, trying to stay calm. "They have names?"

"I don't know," he said, and when she raised an eyebrow, he held his hands out in front of him defensively. "I swear, okay? I don't know anything."

She frowned, but decided to let it go. She didn't have an especially hard time believing that Dick knew nothing. It was his general state of being.

"Can I go now?" he asked, and she waved him off. She hadn't got anything out of him she didn't already know, but it had been nice to scare him a little.

She didn't know what it meant that Lamb had raided the Pi Sig house. It could mean that the investigation was going well, or it could mean that he was still as clueless as she was.

With a last look behind her, Veronica left, still turning it over in her mind.

-

Veronica guessed that Wallace would already be at practice by the time she got out of class, so she made her way straight to the gym. When she got there, she expected to see him playing, but instead he was sitting on the bleachers, looking forlorn.

"What's up?" she asked, sitting beside him.

He shrugged, his eyes still on the court.

"They do know they're missing their star player out there, don't they?"

He glanced over at her. "Coach said they needed to practise with the team that's actually going to be playing."

"What, so they were serious about not starting you?" She shouldn't be so surprised, but somehow she hadn't actually expected it to come to that.

"Looks like it." He was trying to sound casual, but Veronica had practice at reading his expression, and the anxiety was written all over his face.

"So ..." She paused. "Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but why are you still here?"

He looked at her sharply. "I'm not giving up on my team, Veronica. Just because I'm not playing, doesn't mean I can't come to practice."

"Even though they've given up on you?"

He shot her a dark look, and she smiled apologetically.

"Sorry. Not helping."

"No," he said, but he gave her a small smile. "You're not. So what did you find out?"

"Not much yet," she admitted. "I looked at the game records from last year, and something's definitely off."

He raised an eyebrow, and she shook her head.

"Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of anything. If there's a person here less likely to be involved in point shaving, I'd like to meet him."

"So, now what?"

"Now," she said, "I ask around. I doubt whoever did it is just going to come forward and confess, but maybe I can get something to go on anyway. Ask your teammates if they've seen anything suspicious, see if the coach has noticed any players whose game wasn't what it should have been."

Wallace still didn't look happy, and she shot him what she hoped was a comforting look.

"Don't worry. You won't be sitting on the bench forever."

He nodded, and she got up, making her way around the court. She didn't think it would be looked upon too kindly if she interrupted practice just so she could ask some questions, but there were a few other players sitting on the sidelines, watching.

She approached one of them, and sat down with a perfunctory smile. He glanced over, giving her an uninterested nod before returning his attention to the court, and Veronica rolled her eyes. Maybe she should have worn her old pep squad outfit.

"Mind if I ask you a few questions?" she asked, and he looked wary.

"About what?"

"Point shaving."

He sat up straighter, and started shaking his head. "Look, it's just like I told those guys who came around here. I don't know anything. I'm not even a starter."

"What does that mean?"

"It means," he said, fixing her with a look as if he were explaining something to a child, "that nobody's going to bother messing around with some guy who may not even get on the court. Even if I did play, there's no way I'd be able to shave enough points to change the outcome of the game. It's not worth it."

Veronica nodded. That narrowed down the field of suspects, at least. "Did you play last year?"

He smiled humourlessly. "Two games."

She thanked him, and stood up. She didn't know if there was much point in questioning anyone else who wasn't playing, but Wallace was still watching her, and she felt like she had to do something. So she spoke to two more players; both freshmen, which ruled them out immediately, and made them useless as a source of any kind of information.

When the coach blew his whistle for the end of practice, she waited at the edge of the court, snagging a player as he was on his way off.

"What to do you want?" he asked breathlessly, shooting a look towards the gym doors.

"Just a curious fan. I was wondering what you could tell me about point shaving."

"Are you with those guys who were here before?"

"Nope," she said, and pointed at where Wallace was sitting on the bleachers. "Just trying to help out a friend."

He glanced at Wallace, and then back at Veronica, and shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"Just anything you can tell me about who might have been cheating."

"Why don't you ask your boy over there?"

She glared at him. "Wallace is innocent. I'm just trying to find out who set him up."

After a minute, he looked away. "I don't know, okay? I told everything to the guys who were investigating."

"Well," she said evenly, "now you can tell it to me."

"I don't know who it was," he said. "If I did, I'd tell someone. It's not exactly something you brag about in the lockers rooms, you know? I don't know if any of the guys needed money, I didn't see anyone suspicious hanging around, and I didn't see anyone playing badly."

Veronica nodded. It seemed like everyone she'd spoken to so far knew exactly nothing.

"For what it's worth," he said, as she turned to leave, and looked at Wallace again. "I don't think it was Wallace. He's a good guy, you know?"

"Yeah," she said. "I know."

"I just can't help you."

Story of her life.

Wallace came down to meet her as the player left, shrugging expectantly. "So? Did you get anything?"

He looked disappointed before she could even speak.

"I'm still working on it," she said. "I only got to talk to a couple of players. Relax. There's still practically a whole team left for me to unjustly accuse."

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I know."

She looked around the gym, and then back at Wallace. "And if you'll excuse me, I have one more lead to follow up."

He nodded, and she left, jogging over to where the coach was about to head out.

"Coach!" she called after him. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

He glanced behind her at Wallace, and inclined his head slightly.

"Great," she said. "This will just take a few minutes, I promise. I was just wondering, is there any way someone other than Wallace could have responsible for point shaving?"

"It's possible," he said slowly.

"Okay. And say it wasn't Wallace who was cheating, do you have any idea who it might have been? I mean, did you notice anyone playing oddly, maybe missing a few easy shots, anything like that?"

He sighed wearily, and turned to face her fully. "Look ..."

"Veronica," she supplied.

"Veronica. I don't want to believe Wallace is responsible. I'm hoping all of this is just some big mistake. But if I thought anyone else was behind it, Wallace wouldn't be the one sitting out."

"But you obviously don't believe he's guilty," she pushed. "I mean, you've still got him on the team. So -"

"Look," he said. "I hope Wallace manages to clear his name. I really do. He's a good player, and I won't lie, we could use him on the court. But all I can do right now is make the best decisions I can with the information I have,"

"Of course," she said. It didn't look like he was going to be easily swayed.

"Bring me some hard evidence," he said, "and we'll talk about it. But until then ..."

Hard evidence, Veronica thought as he left. If only it were as easy as that. What ever happened to being innocent until proven guilty?

-

"Hey, stranger."

Veronica smiled warily as Laurel greeted her. She knew she'd been scarce around the house lately, and even with everything going on, she knew she could have found the time to visit. Mostly, she just hated the reminder that she'd gotten nowhere in finding out what had happened to Hallie.

"It's okay," Laurel said, giving Veronica an understanding smile. "Come in. We were just about to start."

Lamb had laughed at her when Veronica had called to say she might be late because of an emergency sorority meeting. The Theta Betas, on the other hand, were treating it like it was a matter of grave importance. Which, Veronica reflected quickly, might be a poor choice of words.

Hallie's death had left the Theta Betas reeling, for two reasons. Firstly, because she had been the Theta Beta social chair, and without a ouija board handy, it was kind of hard for her to carry out her job description. And secondly, of course, because they were still feeling the effects of the college's new restrictions. Now that the mourning period was apparently over, the dearth of approved social events was becoming a major issue, and Veronica wasn't surprised they'd finally decided to do something about it.

Michelle spoke before Veronica even had a chance to sit down; apparently she'd been the last to arrive.

"We need to elect a new social chair." There were murmurs of agreement from the others, and a few sad looks passed between some of the more senior Theta Betas. "I nominate Kelly."

The Theta Betas looked at one to Veronica's right, where Kelly sat, looking pleased but not entirely surprised.

"I second," Siobhann said, and Michelle beamed. Support from the Theta Beta president was as close to a guaranteed victory as it was possible to get.

There was a show of hands anyway, and the position went unanimously to Kelly. Some of the girls looked relieved, now that the most pressing matter had been dealt with.

"Okay," Siobhann said, and it was official. "Now, I guess we should discuss what we're going to do with our social calendar.

The relieved expressions quickly vanished. As if the new restrictions weren't enough to put everyone on edge, this year's pledge class was maybe half what it should have been. By the time voting was held, every freshman who hadn't yet withdrawn her name had been admitted. Sarah, the girl Veronica had spoken to at the luncheon, was among them, as was Belinda, who'd had to be taken home from the pledge party. Parker wasn't, which didn't surprise Veronica in the least.

"We have to do something," Kelly said, taking over her new role smoothly. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

The Theta Betas, usually gregarious, looked around uncertainly. The usual ideas were all off-limits; parties were out, which accounted for most of the social calendar to begin with, and the remaining options were somewhat less than inspiring.

"We've already got a couple of charity events scheduled," Siobhann said. Predictably, Dean O'Dell had left those alone. "And most of the pledge activities are fine. We just need to fill out the calendar a little."

"We should throw a party," Sarah said. A couple of the Theta Betas looked at her, already shaking their heads.

"No parties," Becky said sadly. "The college will be all over us."

"Which is why we should throw a secret party," Sarah explained. "Come on, think about it. We've got no parties, no mixers, almost no social events of any kind. No alcohol."

A few of the girls grumbled at that, including Belinda.

"It's like prohibition or something. So I say we do it anyway. It'll be our way of sticking it to overzealous campus security. Plus, it means we might actually have some fun."

"Okay," Siobhann said, obviously warming to the idea. Veronica wasn't so sure. "We'll put it to a vote. All those in favour of a secret prohibition party?"

It was a resounding yes. Somehow, Veronica wasn't surprised.

"It's settled, then. How about next week?" Siobhann looked to Kelly, who nodded.

"No problem."

"Perfect," Siobhann said. "Invited guests only. This has to stay under the radar, you guys. If we get caught, we could lose our charter."

The others nodded their agreement, and Siobhann opened her mouth to speak again just as the doorbell rang. Veronica jumped up hurriedly, glad of the distraction from party planning.

"I'll get it," she said. A few seconds later, she opened the door, and took a step back, baffled.

"Hi," she said, as Lamb stood in the doorway. "Are you here to see me? Because you can call me, you know. Or even come by the house, if you don't mind my dad taking a few pot shots."

"Veronica," he said. He looked more anxious than happy to see her, and a moment later, understanding dawned.

"You're not here to see me."

He looked apologetic. "I wanted to ask some of the girls some questions."

"What, and you couldn't just call?" She could feel herself growing mad, and she really didn't want to get into a shouting match in the open doorway. "You could have warned me first."

"I have to do this, Veronica." He sounded resigned more than anything. "Can you please let me in?"

Wordlessly, she opened the door wider, and stepped back to let him past. She threw an angry glare at his back, which wasn't nearly as satisfying as she would have liked. He glanced back a few minutes later, as if to tell her not to go anywhere, and she reluctantly obeyed, hanging around the edges of the room. When he looked over a couple of minutes after that, she deliberately looked away; she wasn't interested in whatever apology he was trying to make.

He approached her after he'd spoken to the rest of the Theta Betas, and she met his gaze defiantly.

"Aren't you going to question me now?"

He sighed. "Veronica -"

"No, go ahead. I was at the party. Why don't you interrogate me? Or better yet, we can go down to the station and do it there."

He glanced around warily; the Theta Betas were still watching them. "Can we do this somewhere more private?"

She rolled her eyes, but followed him out of the house. Once they were outside, she turned on him.

"Well?"

"Why don't we talk when you come over later -"

"When I come over?" she repeated, incredulous. "Are you serious? You come over here and question a bunch of my friends, and now you expect me to keep our date?"

"I just thought we could talk."

"Talk?" she asked. "Fine, we'll talk. If you don't want to ask questions, I will. How did you even -"

She stopped suddenly, cursing herself for her stupidity. Of course it was her fault.

"When I told you I was coming over here for a meeting, I thought I was talking to my boyfriend. Not inviting the sheriff over so he'd have a convenient time and place to interview all his suspects."

"They're not suspects," Lamb insisted, but she was barely listening to him. "They're witnesses."

"Oh, really. And I suppose you have some grand theory on what happened here?"

He looked away, and she narrowed her eyes, waiting.

"Did you know that Hallie was seeing someone?" he asked eventually.

The question caught her off guard, and she almost shook her head before remembering what Kelly had said before the luncheon.

"I didn't know the details," she said.

"What did you know?"

She shrugged. "It was someone older."

"Much older," he said, and she looked at him curiously. "Budd Rose."

The name rang a bell, and after a second, it clicked. "As in, Budd Rose, husband of Selma Hearst Rose?"

"Ex husband," he corrected. "Apparently, he and Hallie broke up. That was about all I could get. Seems like she didn't like to talk about it."

She thought about the way Hallie had changed the subject when Kelly brought it up, and nodded. "Is he a suspect?"

"No," Lamb said, and Veronica was confused for a moment before she realised he wasn't answering her question. "Veronica, this is an official investigation. I don't want you going anywhere near Budd Rose."

_Like the way you didn't go anywhere near the Theta Betas?_ she thought, but outwardly she just shrugged. "Okay."

"I mean it."

"And I said okay." He didn't look like he believed her, but it didn't really matter to her one way or another. "I'll stay away."

He was still shaking his head when he left, and she made a mental note to look up Budd Rose's address as soon as she got home.


	4. Case Of The Ex

"So, how's the murder mystery coming?"

Veronica looked up to see Professor Landry, and blinked. "Um -"

Oh, right. Her assignment. Good question.

"It's coming," she said, and he grinned.

"It's a tough one," he said. "But I'm sure you'll be able to crack it."

She smiled with false enthusiasm. If only she were so confident.

"Well," Landry said, turning back to address the class at large. "You've all had a while to work on your assignments, so hopefully they're coming along. For the five or six of you who have probably started them already, congratulations. For the rest of you, I'd suggest you start thinking about them soon. In the meantime, I'll expect you to have read the next two chapters for next week, when we'll be talking about forensics."

A few people in the class sat up a little straighter, and he shook his head.

"And not the CSI kind. I'll see you all in a couple of days."

Veronica shot him a friendly smile as she left, her assignment the furthest thing from her mind.

-

Veronica waited until the end of the day to track down Budd Rose, parking across the street in a spot that gave her a good view of the house. It was smaller than she'd expected for someone who'd been married to the heir to the Hearst fortune, but that was a good thing, if it meant she'd have a better chance of getting in to speak to him.

She snapped a few pictures as a man came out of the house. He didn't particularly look like someone who'd been married to an heiress, but looks, she knew, could be deceiving. As he turned towards her, she got out of the car, and caught him just as he was about to go back inside.

"Mr Rose!" she called out, and he turned around.

"What do you want?" he asked, and she put on her best fake smile.

"Hi, I'm Veronica. Do you have a minute?" She tilted her hips a little for good measure; if this guy was into blonde college girls, it couldn't hurt.

"Mr Rose is not available," he said icily.

She frowned. This guy wasn't Budd Rose. Still, that didn't mean he couldn't be useful.

"Shoot," she said. "Well, maybe you can help me. I -"

"I don't think so," he said. "I'm quite busy."

Strike two. This really wasn't going as well as she'd hoped.

"I just want to ask a few questions," she said, slipping casually between him and the door.

"And I've already told you that Mr Rose is not available."

"Did you know Hallie Piatt?" she asked, deciding to get straight to the point. She might not have long to get what she could out of this guy, if his abortive attempts to get past her were anything to judge by.

Eventually, he must have decided that talking to Veronica would be the fastest way to get rid of her. She loved it when people decided that.

"Of course I knew her," he said, with a sigh.

Of course he knew her? Hallie's relationship with Budd Rose must have been serious.

"So you knew about her relationship with Mr Rose?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Everyone knew about it. She wasn't exactly discreet. Highly unprofessional."

"Unprofessional?"

"For an employee to carry on like that with Mr Rose? She even believed he was in love with her. As if she wasn't just another in a long line."

Veronica tried to hide her surprise. An employee? Hallie had been working for Budd Rose? Lamb had conveniently left out that part, and she tried to readjust. It was difficult enough to imagine Hallie with any kind of job at all, but did that mean she had been working for Budd and Selma Rose when they were still married? She must have; they hadn't been divorced long, and Hallie's relationship with Rose sounded like it had started a while ago.

Questioning the man in front of her wouldn't work well if he thought she knew less than he did, but luckily, he looked more uncomfortable than suspicious. That meant she still had the advantage.

"I take it you didn't approve of the relationship?" she pressed.

He sneered, as if that much were obvious. "Hallie Piatt was a stupid girl who dreamed that Mr Rose would leave his wife for her and make her rich. She was hardly the first to think it, but she really wasn't fooling anyone but herself."

Veronica glared at him. "You do know she's dead, right?"

His look told her he didn't much care.

"And their relationship? I'm guessing it didn't end well."

"I can't say I particularly noticed," he said, but his words were betrayed by his expression. "I do have a life outside of Mr Rose's romantic entanglements."

"A break up could have made life difficult for him," she pointed out. "I've noticed that wives don't tend to react very well when they find out their husbands are cheating on them with twenty year olds."

"Mr Rose's wife," he said, in a tone that indicated he didn't think much of her, either, "didn't tend to pay a lot of attention to her husband. Or to the women he was sleeping with."

Veronica could have bet she'd have paid attention if there had been a good reason for it. Like an impending divorce, perhaps? Maybe Selma Rose wasn't indifferent so much as she was calculating.

"Nice house," she said casually. "I expected something bigger."

He just glared at her.

"It doesn't seem like Hallie would have been happy about the break up. Losing her shot at millions? Did you ever see her try to threaten Mr Rose? Go public with the affair?"

"If she had, she wouldn't have made it far."

Bingo. "You mean like, she'd end up dead?"

He stiffened, and stared beyond her at the door. "If you'll excuse me."

"A multi-million dollar divorce settlement is a pretty good motive for wanting someone to disappear."

That got his attention. "Whatever you're implying, I'm sure that Mr Rose had absolutely nothing to do with it. Now" - he drew himself up to his full height, which wasn't very impressive - "I'm going to have to ask you to leave, unless you'd like me to call the police."

She stepped away from the door, hands raised, and he glanced over her shoulder.

"Never mind. I see they've arrived already."

Veronica froze. Neptune didn't have police. It had -

"Mr Rose?" a voice behind her asked, and she bit her lip, waiting a few seconds before reluctantly turning around. This wasn't going to go well.

"Is not available," the man said, but Lamb wasn't looking at him. He was staring straight at Veronica.

"I thought I told you to stay from Budd Rose."

"I know," she said, taking a step forward. "I was just -"

"Save it," he said, and looked past her. "I want to speak to Mr Rose, now."

Behind her, Veronica could hear the man disappear into the house.

"And you," Lamb said, glancing back at Veronica, "should leave."

"You can't just -"

"I can do anything I want," he interrupted her. "I'm the sheriff, remember? And you're interfering with a police investigation."

"I'm just trying to find out what happened."

"Which isn't your job," he said. "It's mine, and for once, you're just going to have to trust me to do it."

For a long moment, she didn't speak.

"I can't do that," she said finally, and he looked away, his jaw clenched tightly.

"I think you should leave."

She moved past him, glancing back behind her as she made her way to her car. Lamb, still waiting outside the house for Mr Rose to appear, didn't turn around.

-

"Veronica, thank god you're here!" Siobhann smiled as Veronica stepped into the house, and lowered her voice. "Kelly is driving me crazy. She's got the whole house working on the party, and she's convinced it has to be perfect."

"Won't it be?" Veronica asked, and Siobhann shrugged.

"I know. I keep telling her it's going to be great, but she's still freaking out. I think she's just nervous. You know, because it's the first party she's throwing, and because ..."

Because she had a dead girl's shoes to fill. Not an easy job.

"Well, I'm sure it's going to be fine," Veronica said. "But do you have a minute? I wanted to ask you a couple of things about Hallie."

Siobhann glanced warily towards the back room, where Veronica guessed Kelly was setting up for the party.

"Sure," she agreed finally, and Veronica followed her to sit down on one of the couches. She paused for a moment, and Siobhann smiled.

"It's okay. You can ask me anything you want."

"Okay," Veronica said, and leaned forward. "Did you know about her relationship with -"

"Mr Rose?" Siobhann finished. "Not a lot. Hallie was kind of low-key about it, which was a little surprising, but I guess she didn't want everyone knowing she was sleeping with a married guy, you know?"

Veronica nodded. She knew a thing or two about wanting to keep a relationship a secret.

"I didn't really find out about it before they broke up. I don't know if anyone knew before then."

"But you knew she worked for him."

Siobhann nodded. "She was his dog walker."

That made a certain amount of sense, she guessed. "Did you ever see Mr Rose?"

"A couple of times." Siobhann shrugged. "I took her to work one time when her car was in the shop."

So she knew Budd Rose on sight. Which meant he would have been recognised at the party.

"What about this guy?" Veronica asked, digging a photo of Mr Rose's personal assistant out of her bag. "Have you ever seen him before?"

Siobhann studied the photo for a minute, and then shook her head. "I don't recognise him."

"You've never seen him at a party?"

"No way," Siobhann said, handing the photo back. "I definitely would have noticed."

That made it difficult for either of them to have been involved in Hallie's death, but Veronica wasn't quite ready to give up. Love and money were two pretty big motives for killing someone - not to mention Budd Rose's marriage, and his reputation. If there was any way he could still be responsible, she was going to find it.

"Okay," Veronica said, managing a smile. "Thanks."

There was a loud crash from further in the house, and then the sound of raised voices. Mostly Kelly's.

"You should go," Siobhann said, with a grim smile. "Before Kelly finds out you're here and puts you to work."

"Thanks," Veronica said, getting up. She shot a final glance at the back room, and hurried out as Siobhann left to see what was going on.

She didn't expect to see Wallace when she got outside, but he was there, hovering nervously around the doorway.

Veronica smiled as she approached him. "Hey, Wallace. What's up?"

"Hey, Veronica," he said distractedly. "I was going to knock, but I heard shouting -"

"That would be Kelly," she said. "They're having a few problems setting up for the party."

"Yeah," he said. He didn't look like he was listening to her. "I tried calling you on your cell, and I went by your house ..."

"It's a good thing you finally found me," she said. "What's up?"

He looked at her, and she could see the worry etched on his face.

"What?" she asked. "Is there news on the case?"

"Can we walk?" he asked, and she nodded, falling into step with him. After a minute, he spoke. "One of the guys on the team talked to the coach."

"That's good," Veronica said. At Wallace's look, she reconsidered. "Okay, that's not good. What happened?"

"He said he told the coach he saw me talking to a bookie."

She stopped, and Wallace turned to look at her. "He lied?"

"Well, yeah, Veronica." He laughed humourlessly. "I'm not exactly the sports betting type."

"No," she agreed firmly. "You're not. So what happened?"

He shook his head. "It's not good. Coach came to talk to me, told me what the guy said. Said it looked like I was making bets on the team. He told me he had no choice."

That didn't sound good. "No choice about what?"

Wallace looked away.

"Were you suspended from the team?"

He shook his head again.

"Kicked off?" Whoever lied to the coach about Wallace was going to pay.

Finally, he looked back at her. "I got suspended from school."

"Wallace, that's -"

"I know," he said. "I might even get expelled. And even if they let me back in, there's no way I can pay for school without basketball."

He looked down, and Veronica took a step towards him.

"What am I going to do?"

"We," she corrected him, are going to get to the bottom of this. Do you know the guy's name?"

He shrugged.

"Can you find out?"

"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, probably. There's a few guys on the team who still have my back. That is, if they haven't decided I sold them out."

She nodded. "All right. Find out the guy's name. When I get through with him, he'll wish he'd never heard of Wallace Fennel."

Wallace looked at her warily. "What are you going to do?"

"Relax," she said. "This is what I do best."

"So, what, you're going to threaten him until he confesses?"

She smiled, and took his arm as they began to walk again. "Exactly."

-

The last thing Veronica wanted to do after Wallace's news was attend the Theta Beta prohibition party. Especially since, with Wallace suspended, he wasn't going to be there. Veronica had tried to get him to come anyway - it would have been perfectly in keeping with the theme of the party, which was basically to break as many of the administration's rules as possible - but he'd resisted, claiming he wasn't in the mood to party.

Neither was Veronica, but with no leads to follow up on a Friday night and her father looking at her like he wished she'd get on with having a normal college experience, there wasn't much else she could do. Besides, if she was lucky, she might get to ask a few more questions about Hallie, which was enough of a possibility for her to brave the party.

There was nothing outside the house to give away the party inside; even from the doorway, it would probably pass a casual inspection. The back room, on the other hand, was a completely different story.

The walls were crammed with lights and decorations. A bar was set up in one corner, with people crowded around it and into every available space. Music pumped from the stereo, low enough not to be heard from outside, and a few couples were taking advantage of the crush of bodies to grind against one another in a pale imitation of dancing.

In short, it was her worst nightmare come to life.

"Veronica!"

She looked over to see Kelly, bounding towards her, and her hopes of making a quiet escape were dashed.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's ..." Veronica searched for the right word. "Impressive."

Kelly looked pleased, smiling over the party she'd created. "I know, right? God, I was so nervous. I mean, this had to be an awesome party, you know? And I was worried that maybe people wouldn't show up, because of all those stupid rules, and then I was worried that too many people would show up, and we'd be overcrowded, and then maybe the college would find out, and - oh, but this is perfect! I'm so relieved."

Veronica just smiled. Kelly really didn't have anything to worry about. The odds of people not showing up to a party, especially when they were in short supply, were practically nonexistent.

"Anyway," Kelly continued. "I should get back to it. Whoever's in charge of the music really needs to be replaced. But have fun, okay?"

Fun. Sure. She could probably do that.

"I will," she assured Kelly, who beamed at her one last time before disappearing back into the crowd.

Veronica scanned the party again, and her eyes fell on Parker, who was standing on the far side of the room. She made her way over, avoiding a group of already-drunk Pi Sigs with full cups and wandering hands, and Parker grinned when she saw her.

"Veronica," she said, moving forward to meet her. "I thought I'd never see a familiar face."

"Parker, hey," she said. "I didn't know you were coming."

Parker shrugged. "It was either that or stay home with Mac and watch her and Bronson get all cuddly. I mean, they're really nice about it, but I was starting to feel a bit like a third wheel."

"Ick," Veronica said. "Well, I'm glad you're here."

"Yeah," Parker said, but she was looking over Veronica's shoulder. Veronica glanced around, and saw Logan, who had just walked in.

"Ah," she said. "And now, I see the other reason you're here."

After a minute, Parker looked back at her. "It's not really like that."

"You mean, like you're still into him?"

Parker bit her lip.

"It's okay," Veronica assured her. "I mean, I don't really know what happened between you guys, but ... he probably still feels the same way, you know."

"I'm not so sure about that," Parker said. "I mean, we agreed we'd still be friends and everything, but I'm kind of starting to think he was just saying that. We were really good before school started, but now it's like he's ignoring me."

She gasped suddenly, and Veronica looked at her curiously.

"Oh my god, what if he knows? I mean, that I ... maybe he thinks I want to get back together, and he doesn't feel the same way. I mean, he's not exactly the most emotionally available guy I've dated."

"No," Veronica agreed. "He's not. But I'm sure that's not what's happened. He's probably just busy, is all."

"Yeah," Parker said, looking like she wanted to believe it. "Probably."

"You should go talk to him. It's a party, right? Casual, and lots of distractions in case it gets ... awkward."

Parker squared her shoulders. "Okay. You're right. I'm just going to talk to him."

"Good idea," Veronica said, watching as Parker made her way over towards Logan. At least she could sort out other people's relationships.

She veered away from a couple of pledges who'd started doing shots over by the bar, and was stopped by Siobhann, who was holding out a couple of drinks.

"No, thanks," Veronica said pre-emptively, but Siobhann wasn't dissuaded.

"One drink," Siobhann said. "It's called a Piatt."

Right. Like Hallie Piatt. And this would be the part where Siobhann played on Hallie's memory to try to get Veronica to have fun.

"I don't -"

"Come on," Siobhann insisted. "Just one, I promise."

Reluctantly, Veronica took the drink. "Just one."

It tasted sweet but deadly, which was kind of perfect for its name. Veronica wondered what was in it, and then decided she was probably better off not knowing.

"They look like they're having fun," Siobhann said, gesturing at the pledges Veronica had seen earlier. Looking closer, she recognised Sarah and Belinda; Sarah was grinning, and Belinda was leaning over the bar, looking like she'd already had too much.

"As long as I don't have to take them home," Veronica said, and Siobhann laughed.

"Don't worry, I think Kelly's taking care of that. I'm pretty sure she isn't going to relax enough to start drinking until the party's over."

As Siobhann left, Veronica finished her drink, already feeling light-headed. Hallie's namesake really packed a punch, and the lights and the crowd didn't help, either.

When she spotted Dick over by the entrance, she suddenly wished for another one.

He was followed into the party by Madison, which made Veronica raise her eyebrows. Of all the couples she would have picked to survive high school, Dick and Madison ranked nowhere near the top. She just hoped they never reproduced.

She was surprised when Madison suddenly veered away from Dick, throwing a distasteful look over her shoulder. If she wasn't here for Dick, Veronica wondered, why was she here? Probably her idea of playing hard to get.

Dick followed Madison, and then glanced over at the bar, and Veronica quickly moved away. She kept her eyes trained on Dick to make sure he didn't notice her, which meant she didn't see the person standing in front of her until she'd bumped in to them.

"Oops, sorry!" she said, and then turned her head to look at the person she'd collided with. "Or not," she amended, as Madison stared back at her.

"Oh," Madison said. "It's you."

"And you," Veronica said. "Gee, it's been great to catch up, but I really should be going."

"I hear you're dating the sheriff," Madison said, and Veronica froze. She really did not want to have this conversation.

"Not that it's any business of yours," she said coldly.

"It was my business not so long ago," Madison reminded her, smiling viciously. "Or did you forget I dated him first?"

Actually, she'd managed to put that quite effectively out of her mind. "From what I saw, what you two were doing couldn't quite be called dating."

Madison sniffed. "Ashamed of wanting my cast-offs?"

Not ashamed, exactly. More like quietly horrified. "I guess his taste has just improved."

"It doesn't look that way to me," Madison said, as if it were the most original comeback in the world. "I'm just surprised he's willing to be seen in public with you."

"Unlike when he was seeing you."

Madison shrugged. "We had more fun in private."

On the list of things she never wanted to discuss with Madison Sinclair - and it was a long list - this was absolutely number one. In fact, what Veronica wanted to do more than anything else right now was to throw up.

"Is your hair supposed to do that?" she asked, trying to look concerned. Madison looked worried for a minute, and then stormed off, sneering at Veronica as she went.

Veronica watched her go, satisfied, and saw Dick approach Madison. She brushed him off, and he looked up, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

With a sinking feeling, Veronica realised he was looking at her.

"Ronnie," he said, cornering her before she could get away. "Long time, no party."

"Yeah," she said, without feeling. "What a shame."

"I know, right?" he enthused. Apparently, sarcasm was completely lost on him. "I've missed seeing you around."

Somehow, she found it difficult to believe that. "I wish I could say I felt the same."

"What?" he asked, and then shook his head. "Never mind. So, how have you been?"

He was, Veronica realised with a start, leaning over her, pressing his hand to the wall. She tried to move away, and he followed her, pinning her in.

"Dick," she said evenly. "Move."

"Oh, yeah," he said, straightening up. "Never let it be said that Dick Casablancas is not a gentleman and a scholar."

She considered telling him that he was neither of those things, but just shook her head, instead. "You've read Robert Burns?"

He looked confused. "I read what?"

"The gentleman and scholar?"

"Oh, yeah," recognition setting in. "The Office. That Pam chick's totally hot. But I wouldn't exactly kick Karen out of bed, if you know what I mean."

"Dick, plankton know what you mean."

"Uh huh," he said, ignoring the comment. "So, where's your boyfriend?"

She sighed. What was it with this party and her love life? "I'm here by myself."

"Cool," he said, nodding. "Me, too."

She didn't think he was, but she refrained from saying so. Even mentioning Madison was more than she could handle. "Thrilling."

"So, I guess that kind of puts us in the same boat."

Veronica tensed. She really didn't like where this was going.

She liked it even less when Dick leaned forward again, and his lips collided with hers. She pushed him off her roughly, and he stepped back, looking baffled.

"Hey, what gives? I thought we were friends."

If she was any kind of friends with Dick Casablancas - and she'd really rather think she wasn't - it was definitely not the kind that kissed at parties. She settled for pushing him away from her again, and making her way hurriedly towards the exit. The way this party was going, she wasn't going to risk sticking around to find out if it got any worse.

She did enjoy the glare Madison shot at her as she left, however.


	5. There's No 'I' In Team

"So, tell me again why I'm letting you stay here?"

Wallace rolled his eyes, but he shifted over on the couch to let Veronica sit beside him. "I think it has something to do with the fact that my mom will kill me if she finds out I got suspended from school."

"Oh," she said, reaching over to take a handful of his popcorn. "That."

"Yeah, that," he said. "That, and the fact that it was your job to figure out who was behind all that point shaving stuff before I got kicked out."

"Hey," she said, leaning over him to change to channel with the remote. "I'm doing the best I can, here. I do have a few other things on my plate."

"Sorry."

"Don't apologise," she said. "I should have fixed this already. I've just been distracted."

"Yeah, your distraction called about three times while you were at class. Aren't you supposed to take your cell phone with you when you leave the house?"

Veronica didn't want to admit that she'd been dodging Lamb's calls. It seemed easier to just accidentally miss them. "You answered my phone?"

"Let it go to voice mail," Wallace assured her. "But you have caller ID."

She decided a change of subject was in order. "So, this is what you do all day when I'm not here? Eat popcorn and watch TV?"

"Only on Wednesdays," he said, smiling as he snatched the remote back from her. "Actually, I think I'm this close to talking your dad into taking me on a case with him."

"I think your mom would kill him for that."

Keith chose that moment to get home, raising his eyebrows as Veronica finished. "You're not talking about me, I hope."

"Actually," Veronica said, "we were."

"All good things, I trust." He looked from Veronica to Wallace. "How is your mom, anyway?"

"She's good," Wallace said, and glanced at Veronica. "Actually, I don't think she's seeing anyone at the moment, so, you know ..."

"Well, I'm sure she's doing fine," Keith said, and Veronica couldn't read the look on his face. "So, what are you kids up to?"

Veronica shrugged. "We were just talking about how Wallace was framed for point shaving and kicked off the basketball team."

"Uh huh."

"And how we're going to find out who really did it and make them pay."

"Okay," Keith said. "Well, there's nothing like a bit of revenge when your week starts to get boring."

He took a couple of steps towards his room, and then turned back.

"You know, I'm starting to have some serious doubts about that college of yours."

"Yeah," Veronica muttered, when he was gone. "Me, too."

She turned back to Wallace.

"So, did you find out who it was yet?"

"Yeah," he said, leaning back. "I called in a few favours."

"And?"

"Guy named Peter Langley. He's a starter, a junior."

"Well," she said, smiling. "Peter Langley is about to rue the day he ever crossed Wallace Fennel."

"You mean the day he crossed Veronica Mars."

She shrugged. "Same difference. So, we have a name. That should make it a lot easier to get proof that he was really the one behind all this."

"You sure you want to do this alone?" Wallace asked. "'Cause I got your back, if you need me."

"I know," she said. "But you should stay off campus, just to be safe. I can handle it."

Wallace nodded, but he looked disappointed. She guessed cabin fever was already beginning to set in.

"I'll get this done," she assured him. "You'll be back in your tiny two-person dorm before you even know it. Now, any idea where this Peter Langley lives?"

Ten minutes later, armed with a room number and her cell phone, Veronica set off to clear Wallace's name.

-

She was almost at Peter's room when her cell phone rang, and for a second, she almost regretted not leaving it at home again. She rifled through her bag until she found the phone, and glanced down at the caller ID.

Lamb.

Again.

She sent the call through to voice mail, feeling guilty as she did it. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him, she told herself; she was just busy.

And apparently, the reason for her being busy had come out to meet her.

"Peter Langley?" she asked, as she guy in front of her stepped out of his room.

He shrugged. "Yeah?"

Well, that was easy.

"I think we have some business to discuss."

He tried to step around her, and she moved, blocking his path. "I'm kind of busy right now."

"Yeah, me too," she said, reaching out an arm to stop him passing. "But I think you'll want to listen to this."

He stopped, apparently resigned to having to talk to her, and gave her an impatient look.

"I believe we have a mutual friend in common. Wallace Fennel?"

He started looking like he was going to bolt again, and she advanced on him.

"You know, the same Wallace Fennel you got kicked off the basketball team for point shaving? Except you and I both know he's innocent, don't we, Peter?"

He didn't say anything, and she took another step forward.

"Now, I'm going to give you a choice. Either you come clean, and confess that it was really you who cheated last year, or I make your life a living hell. Trust me, I've done it before."

"Wait," he said, backing up. "You think I'm the one who shaved those points?"

"Why else would you tell the coach that it was Wallace?"

He shook his head. "I don't cheat, okay? I would never do that."

"Okay," she said, and shrugged. "If you want to do it the hard way ..."

"I don't want to do anything the hard way," he said. "But I'm innocent, okay?"

"Then why Wallace?" she demanded. "I know you didn't see him talking to a bookie."

He looked away. "I was just repeating what I heard."

"Heard from who?"

"A couple of guys on the team." He shrugged. "I don't know."

"So, you hear some people gossiping, and you decide to repeat what you heard to the coach? Only, you pretend the story's your own. Pull the other one."

"It's the truth," he insisted. "Look, maybe I lied a little, but nobody else was coming forward. And if what they said was true, I had to say something."

"That's a pretty big if," she said. "But okay, I'll bite. Whose word was so convincing that you ran off to turn in Wallace without even checking to see if it was true?"

He hesitated, but then glanced at his watch. For once, it seemed, time was on her side. "How about the captain of the basketball team?"

Veronica smiled. This guy was too easy. "This captain got a name?"

"Yeah," he said, with a sigh. "Todd Gilman."

She nodded. "If I find out you're lying to me, I will be back here. And next time, I'm not going to give you a choice."

"I'm terrified," he said, and pushed past her.

Veronica rolled her eyes as he left. It could be tedious, sometimes, having to scare people all over again.

Maybe she'd ruin his life anyway, just for fun.

-

This time, Veronica did her research before questioning Todd Gilman. After uncovering several unpaid parking tickets and one embarrassing incident involving another student that she thought he'd probably rather stayed buried, she felt more than prepared to face him.

She caught him in his room, after knocking three times and waiting for a minute while he switched off what sounded like a very violent video game.

"Todd Gilman?" she asked, when he finally opened the door.

"Yeah," he said, as if it should be obvious. "Who are you?"

"Veronica," she said. "I'm a friend of Wallace's."

He drew back enough at the statement that she guessed Peter had been telling the truth. It was a pity; she had dug up some good dirt on him, too.

"I think you and I need to talk about what you said you saw Wallace doing."

He shook his head. "I don't need to talk to you about anything."

"Simon Tedeschi would beg to differ," she said. His eyes widened, and she gasped theatrically. "I'm sorry, was that supposed to be a secret? Maybe I shouldn't repeat the story right here in the hallway, then."

Todd glanced around at a couple of people walking past, and stepped away from the doorway. "Fine. Whatever."

"So gracious of you," she said as she stepped inside, and he closed the door behind her.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's start with why you're framing Wallace for cheating, and end with me not destroying you."

He scoffed, but he still looked nervous. "What's there to say? He cheated, he got caught. It's the way things work."

"Simon -"

"All right," he said. "Enough with that. What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to say that you lied."

He studied her for a minute, as if trying to guess the odds of her telling everyone in a fifty foot radius what she knew about him.

He guessed right.

"Fine," he said. "I lied."

"Great. Now I want you to tell that to the coach."

"No way," he said, and she rolled her eyes. Why did people always insist on making it difficult for her?

"I'm guessing you weren't the only one involved here," she said, trying a slightly different approach. "Since you were injured for one of the games where the point shaving occurred. I want to know who else is involved, and I think you're about to tell me."

"Then think again," he said, "because I'm not telling you anything."

"Do you seriously think I'm bluffing?"

"I seriously don't care. Tell whoever you want. If I tell you who was cheating, I'm looking at way worse."

"Worse than this?"

"Yeah."

Yowza.

"That story you keep throwing about," he said, "is embarrassing. This could ruin my career, and I'm not talking about point shaving. I'm looking to go pro, and this guy ..."

He looked at her, as if to indicate that whatever information the other guy had on him scared him way more than she did. She held his gaze for a minute, and then opened the door.

"Good luck with that," she said. "I'll tell Simon to root for you."

-

Veronica could try to dig up more dirt on Todd Gilman, find out what the mystery player had on him. It obviously scared him a lot more than point shaving allegations, and that meant it had to be something big. But she hadn't found anything the first time she'd checked him out, and she thought there was probably an easier way.

"Veronica," Alan greeted her, as she entered the makeshift casino. "I haven't seen you around here in a while."

"Yeah, well," she said. "Listen, you take bets on sports, right?"

"Yeah," he said. "What do you want to bet on?"

She smiled. "Nothing, actually. I was just wondering, do a lot of people bet on Hearst basketball?"

He shrugged. "A few. It's pretty popular. Good money maker."

"That's great," she said. "Is there any chance you'd remember anyone in particular? Anyone who would have stood out. They would have come in last year?"

"I don't ..." He thought for a minute. "Wait, there was this one guy. He wanted to bet big. Like, really big. I'm all for making a profit, but I don't cover bets that size. Good thing, too. He would have won it all. Hearst was pretty heavily favoured."

"I don't suppose you took down this guy's name before you turned away his money?"

Alan smiled grimly. "Sorry."

"Yeah," she said. "I figured. Any idea who he was?"

"Maybe. I mean, he looked kind of familiar. I think I used to see him around here last year, pretty regular, but he hasn't been in for a while."

"Thanks," she said. That didn't exactly narrow down the field of candidates, but maybe it would give her something she could work with.

"And I think he's on the team," he said, and she froze.

"The Hearst basketball team? Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I only remember because it seemed weird he was betting against his own team, you know?"

Well, Veronica thought, Alan would know something about that. She didn't mention it, though; she was pretty sure he'd just given her the name of the player responsible for Wallace's suspension. Someone who stopped coming into the casino last year, right around the time she started working there, could have been a coincidence. A basketball player who did the same thing? Sounded more like proof.

"Hey," Alan said, as she was about to leave. "If you're not busy this weekend, I could use someone else on the tables."

Veronica thought about Sam Mercano's casino, then, about Liam Fitzpatrick holding her hostage, holding a knife to her throat. Lamb shooting her.

She didn't need the reminder. She still had the scar.

"Thanks," she said, "but I'll pass. I've got a charity function to attend."

-

The Theta Betas' rare charity events were some of the only things left on the social calendar after Dean O'Dell had finished auditing the Greek system. Normally, they were things most Theta Betas would have tried to avoid, not tending to be high on the sorority girl fantasy checklist.

This afternoon's pantomime, at the Sunshine Wellness retirement facility, was packed. Of course, Veronica attributed that less to the amusing costumes and general dearth of approved social events, and more to the devious minds behind the Theta Beta social committee, who had somehow managed to make the visit a can't-miss event.

Even Veronica had to admit that it was clever. Take a bunch of humiliating outfits, add in a group of old people, and gently season with a secret party in an unused conference room. The perfect recipe for college-sanctioned fun.

Veronica's stint on stage, thankfully, was brief. She didn't mind lying a little - okay, a lot - or even slipping into character for a case, but acting really wasn't her thing. Still, she felt sorrier for people like Siobhann, who had to stay out there all afternoon. And in lycra, no less.

Really, though, she wasn't entirely sure that the party awaiting her down the hall was a much more desirable option.

The Theta Betas looked up nervously as she entered, and Kelly jumped up to close the door behind her.

"Thank god," she said. She looked more high-strung than ever, and Veronica guessed she wasn't the only one rethinking the party. "I took a tiny break to help Becky out of her costume, and suddenly the door's opening every three seconds. I mean, I really don't think anyone's going to come in here, but -"

"Relax," Sarah said. She was sitting in a rough circle on the floor, along with some of the other Theta Betas. "Everything's fine. It's perfect."

It wasn't surprising that Sarah would vouch for the party; it, like so many others, had been her idea. Kelly had taken it up happily enough, but ever since they'd arrived, she'd spent every spare minute running around, organising costumes, making sure the pantomime was going smoothly, and standing guard to make sure they weren't caught. Of course, she had a little help with the last job in the form of Morty, eighty one years old and a resident of the Sunshine Wellness facility, who had, it seemed, taken quite a shine to her.

In fact, now that Veronica looked around, quite a few people in the room seemed to be residents. Apparently, despite Kelly's best efforts, word had gotten out. Residents were now, like the Theta Betas, slipping in and out of the party in order to avoid suspicion, though their Veronica had a sneaking suspicion their numbers were growing with each new arrival.

"Everything's fine out there," she assured Kelly. "But, speaking of costumes, could somebody help me out of mine?"

Becky, freshly out of her own costume, rushed over to help. Kelly slipped out of the door and back into the hallway, once more accompanied by Morty.

A couple of minutes and some effort later, Veronica was dressed once more in regular clothes and finally able to relax. She glanced around the room, decided to skip the game of I Never that Belinda was enthusiastically participating in, and sat down instead at the sparsely populated table that doubled as the bar.

One of the two men sitting there, a silver-haired man who barely looked old enough to be a resident, looked over at her.

"Drink?" he offered. "I make a mean Manhattan."

Veronica thought about it for a minute, and then nodded. "Sure."

He grinned at her, the kind of smile that men old enough to be her grandfather shouldn't be allowed, and reached for a bottle.

"So," she said. "Is this a regular Saturday afternoon around here?"

"A regular Saturday around here," the other man said, "is playing bridge and watching bad television. You girls are angels."

Glancing behind her, Veronica doubted that very much.

"Some of us play tennis," her impromptu bartender added. "But Sam is a little old for that. I'm Carlos, by the way."

"Veronica," she said. After a second, he handed her the cocktail, and she took a sip. "You're right. This is pretty good."

"Pretty good," he scoffed. "Come back when you've got a few more years on you, and we'll talk about pretty good."

"Yeah, but can he mix a dry martini worth a damn?" Sam asked, pouring his own drink. "And you and me" - he nodded at Carlos - "we'll see who's too old when I kick your butt next weekend."

Carlos shook his head, still looking at Veronica. "Says the man who almost didn't want to come to the party."

Sam downed half his drink in one, which Veronica thought was pretty impressive. "I just like to know what I'm getting into."

"And you thought these sweet little girls were going to rat you out? You're more paranoid than Ronna sometimes."

"Rat you out?" Veronica asked, confused.

Carlos smiled again. "Sam practically had himself convinced you girls were hired by the house. Thought this was some kind of sting operation or something. That is, until he came in here and found half a dozen of you half-dressed."

"I changed my mind," Sam said simply.

Veronica took another sip of her drink, but raised her eyebrows at Sam. He looked unapologetic.

"So," Carlos said. "What do you usually do, when you're not here patronising us old folks?"

She shrugged. "Just regular girl stuff."

Solving crimes. Investigating murders. Avenging the wrongly accused.

Just regular girl stuff, all right.

Sam leaned forward. "So, do you have a fella?"

She laughed, but thought immediately of Lamb, and of the seven - no, eight - unanswered phone calls she still hadn't gotten around to returning.

"Um," she said. "It's complicated."

Sam sighed wistfully. "The best ones always are."

-

As if thinking about someone hard enough really could make them appear, Lamb was waiting for her when she got home.

"Hey," she said, as she approached him. She was in a good mood, still slightly tipsy from Carlos' cocktails, and it had been far too long since she'd seen Lamb without fighting with him. "Waiting for me at home now? That's a risky proposition. My dad has a gun in there, you know."

"I tried calling," he said. "Apparently, you don't answer your phone any more."

She thought again about the voice mail messages, and tried not to let the guilt show on her face. She had intended to return them, she told herself firmly.

"I'm glad you're here," she said, dodging the accusation. Lamb's expression said he didn't quite believe her. "You would have liked me today. I was a watermelon."

"You were a what?" For a minute, his scepticism was gone, replaced by amusement and a touch of incredulity. "You were a watermelon?"

"It was a ... it was complicated," she eventually settled for.

"It always is with you."

"I thought you liked that about me," she said, and she could see him smile, though he tried his best to hide it. "So, what did you come here to talk to me about? It obviously wasn't my choice of pantomime wear, and I'm guessing this isn't a social visit."

He looked away, and she braced herself. "I just thought you'd want to know that I spoke to Budd Rose."

"I know," she said. "I was there when you went to the house."

The last traces of his amusement suddenly vanished, and she thought maybe it hadn't been the best idea to remind him. Her good mood was fading fast, too.

"Besides," she said. "I'm not working on the case, remember?"

He stared at her for a minute, and she relented.

"Okay, fine. What have you got? Did he confess? Do you have him in a holding cell already?" She frowned, and a vision of Hallie flashed before her eyes. "I hope it's a small one."

"None of the above."

"He's holding out on you?"

Lamb sighed. "He's not the guy, Veronica."

She raised an eyebrow challengingly. "What, and you just know that?"

"It's my job to know that."

"And it's my job to tell you that you're wrong."

"No," he said, "it's not. It's your job to go to college, study for classes, and graduate. It's not your job to do mine."

She ignored him. "Budd Rose was married to a very wealthy woman before he started sleeping with Hallie. They broke up, she took it badly, and now he's living in a house that probably could have fit inside his old living room."

"You don't know that she took it badly," he pointed out. Apparently, he'd decided he wasn't going to get out of discussing the case with her.

Anyway, he'd brought it up first.

"She never even told anyone about the affair," he said.

"Yeah," Veronica said. "And what does that tell you?"

"It tells me that she didn't want to talk about her scumbag ex. I don't generally go around talking about my exes."

No, but Madison Sinclair did.

"Speaking of your exes," she said, "I hear Madison's back in town."

He visibly paled. Once upon a time, that would have given her comfort. Now, it just made her a little sick to her stomach.

"I know," he said slowly.

"You know?" No. She was not going to worry about _how_ he knew.

He shrugged. "She's been hanging around the sheriff's department."

"Really?" she asked, as coldly as she could manage. He looked back at her impassively. "And you were planning on telling me about this when?"

"How about never?" he asked. "She's just a stupid -"

_Stupid kid._ He hadn't stopped himself in time to keep it from being written all over his face.

Madison was her age. She was about to say as much when Lamb spoke first.

"Are you actually jealous about this, or are you just looking for an excuse to pick a fight?"

She'd forgotten that sometimes he was almost as capable of reading her as she was of reading him.

She looked back at him with all the fury she could manage. "We're already fighting."

"Yeah, we are."

They were almost yelling, too, which probably wasn't a good thing, considering her dad was probably inside. He didn't tend to take very well to guys fighting with her.

That seemed to occur to Lamb, too, because he glanced behind her, and took a deep breath. The muscle in his jaw was working overtime, and there was still anger in his eyes. "Budd Rose didn't kill Hallie."

"Married men don't take too kindly to having their secret affairs revealed," she said. "It's motive."

"It was motive for Aaron Echolls, you mean."

That stung, and Lamb knew it. She sucked in a breath. "This has nothing to do with Lilly."

"Think about it, Veronica," he said. "Don't you think you're getting a little too emotional?"

"And I shouldn't get emotional when one of my friends is dead?" she demanded. "Maybe I should just be like you, and shrug it off. Pretend it never happened."

He looked away, and she knew she'd hit her mark. The victory felt surprisingly empty.

"I want you off this case," he said, and she rolled her eyes.

"You know, you've already -"

"I'm serious," he interrupted her. "I want you off it, for good. I mean it. I want you to tell me you're going to stay the hell away from the case, and then I want you to do it."

He was holding her in place, his fingers not quite digging into her arms, and she had no choice but to look at him. He stared back at her, unblinking, and she wondered what he'd do if she refused.

"Fine," she said, and he released her. "I won't go anywhere near the case, I promise."

He nodded, ever so slightly, and walked away. She waited until he was gone, and then slipped quietly into the house.

All in all, her day could have been better.


	6. The Sting

Now that she had enough clues to piece together his identity, all Veronica needed was evidence that linked Doug Handler to point shaving. And this time, when she got it, she wasn't going to let him off with a slap on the wrist or a warning not to come around again.

She doubted he'd be dumb enough to hide the evidence in his room like he had the last time she caught him cheating - high stakes gambling and game fixing weren't exactly the same thing as a shoe box full of fake poker chips - but she hadn't found any unusual activity in his financial records, either. He had to have another account somewhere, and she needed help to find it.

And since she hadn't spoken to Lamb since his impromptu visit to her apartment, that only left one person she could ask.

"Veronica," Mac said, as she opened the door to let Veronica in. "Let me guess. You need a favour."

"Actually," Veronica said, "it's for Wallace."

Mac looked surprised. "Oh. In that case, what can I do to help?"

Veronica smiled. "Is there any way you can track down an extra bank account someone's keeping hidden?"

"Of course. What's the name?"

"Doug Handler."

"Okay," Mac said, opening up her computer as Veronica sat on the bed. "Just give me a few minutes."

"Fast," Veronica said, and Mac turned to look at her. "Not you. The search."

Mac laughed. "I know what you mean."

They sat in silence for a while, Veronica trying to keep her mind occupied. It helped to have something to focus on other than Hallie, other than Lamb, other than the criminology assignment she still hadn't touched.

"So," Veronica said, looking around. "Where's Parker?"

Mac shrugged. "Out."

"With Logan?"

"Do you care?"

"Only as a friend," Veronica assured her.

Mac shrugged again. "I don't think so. I think she's just ..."

"Out," Veronica said. "Right."

"So," Mac said, after a minute. "How are you and, you know?"

Lamb. Exactly the person she didn't want to think about.

"You know what?" she asked, getting up before Mac could turn around. "I'll come back later."

-

Veronica had been over Doug Handler's stats for the three games that were most likely to have been fixed, but they didn't tell her much. He was a solid player, but not a superstar, so he was easy to overlook. He also had enough time on the court that he could easily have changed the outcome of the games.

She was counting on Mac to come through with the financial information, but she needed to able to prove that it was at least possible that Doug, not Wallace, had cheated. Luckily, Wallace had been able to point her in the direction of the Hearst basketball commentary team, and Veronica was guessing that they'd be able to make a lot more sense out the numbers than she could.

Crossing her fingers, Veronica knocked on the door. The guy who opened it looked more like a typical sports fan than an AV geek, but a quick look at the equipment in the room behind her told Veronica he was probably both.

"Hi," she said. "I'm Veronica. A friend of mine said you might be able to help me?"

He looked her up and down. "Help you with what?"

"I need to take a look at the tapes of some of the games from last year's basketball season. I'm hoping you still have them?"

"Sure we do," he said, and opened the door a little wider so she could step inside. "Are you looking for any games in particular?"

She gave him the dates, and he nodded, turning around to rifle through some messily labelled tapes.

"This could take a while," he said over his shoulder.

"I'll wait," she said, leaning back against the doorway.

A couple of minutes later, he held up the tapes triumphantly, and slotted one of them into the VCR. "So, what are you looking for?"

"Do you know the players well?"

"From last year? Yeah."

"Okay. So, you'd know if they're not playing as well as usual? Like, if something looks off?"

He shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"Could you point it out to me?"

He turned to look at her curiously as he started the tape. "Is there anyone in particular you want me to watch?"

"Yeah," she said. "Doug Handler."

-

"Got it," Mac said, when Veronica returned. "It wasn't easy, but there were three large deposits paid into the account last semester."

"Do you know the dates?"

Mac looked down at the files she'd printed out. "One at the beginning of the year, one a couple of weeks after that, and the third was a week after that. Does that mean something?"

Only that the dates Doug Handler was receiving large amounts of money from a mysterious source coincided with the suspect games. Mac handed the records over, and Veronica looked at the dates highlighted. One a couple of days after each of the games. Perfect. And -

"You tracked down the account he was paid from?"

Mac grinned. "Mine is a full service invasion of privacy."

"You're a goddess," Veronica told her.

"I know," she said. "So, does this get Wallace off the hook?"

"Absolutely. I've just got to make one more stop."

-

Even though she was fighting with Lamb, Veronica still had a few friends in the sheriff's department. It was one fortunate side effect of spending most of her free time hanging around the station.

Another was that she knew Lamb's schedule down to a tee. Like the fact that, on Thursday afternoons, he spent an hour in the gym. Usually that coincided with her having class, but this week's lecture had been cancelled in favour of starting the mid-semester break early.

She spared a wary glance towards the door to his office, just in case, but it was open, his chair empty. Inga waved her through with a smile, and Veronica returned it before making her way through to one of the desks in the back.

"Peters," she said. "Just the man I'm looking for."

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Absolutely." She gave him her most winning smile. "I need to ask you a favour."

"If it involves the sheriff -"

"Hardly," she said. "I need you to catch a bad guy for me."

He opened his mouth, as if to ask her why she didn't go to Lamb instead, but then seemed to think better of it, and shrugged. "That's my job."

"Great." She pulled the financial records Mac had dug up out of her bag, and pointed to the name that wasn't Doug Handler's. "I'm pretty sure this guy has been fixing college basketball games. He's been paying one of the players to shave points. I thought maybe you wouldn't mind hauling him in."

Peters leaned forward, and nodded. "Yeah, I think I recognise the name. Bookie. We questioned him a couple of times, couldn't get anything on him."

"Would you like to?"

She handed the records over, and he leaned back to study them. "I'm not even going to ask where you got these."

"Good call," she said. He rolled his eyes, and she leaned casually against his desk. "So, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

-

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

Veronica nodded to Peters as he passed, then slid her earpiece in, handing one to Wallace. "I'm sure."

"Are you sure it's even legal?"

"As long as they're not planning to arrest him."

Wallace still looked unconvinced, and she laid a steady hand on his knee to stop the nervous twitch he seemed to have picked up sometime in the last ten minutes.

"It's fine," she assured him. "They get him to confess to cheating, he rolls over on his bookie, and everyone walks away happy. Well, except for Doug. He gets to be kicked off the team, expelled, and probably lose his grad school spot."

Wallace was looking at her curiously, and she raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Have I ever told you how glad I am I never got on your bad side?"

"It was implied," she said, and turned to face the alcove where Doug was waiting. "Come on. You don't want to miss this."

Doug looked surprised as Peters approached him, and glanced around the courtyard. Veronica shrunk back in her seat; if Doug recognised her, it might blow the operation, and she wasn't going to let that happen.

"Where's Joe?" he asked, and Peters shrugged.

"He's been detained."

Veronica rolled her eyes. Cop humour.

"He sent me. Unless you want me to go back and tell him the deal's off?"

She tensed for a moment as Doug seemed to consider it. The evidence she had would probably be enough to get Wallace off, but she wanted a confession. She wanted Doug Handler nailed to the wall.

He shook his head, and she let out a breath.

"Whatever," he said, his voice tinny and uncertain through the earpiece. "Look, I made you guys your money back already."

And a little extra for himself, no doubt. He should have stuck to counterfeiting chips at amateur poker nights; it was what he was good at. Not nearly as lucrative, but it also wasn't likely to land you in debt to a bunch of scary men with a penchant for breaking kneecaps.

"And you think that makes us even?"

Doug shifted. He obviously wasn't very well versed in the ways of the criminal underground.

"It's not going to be easy, this time." Trying to reason his way out of it. Good luck with that. "There was already an investigation. They think they caught the guy. If it happens again ..."

"Then you'd better make it look good." Peters leaned forward, casually menacing, and Veronica had to give him credit. He did it well.

"I don't know if -"

"We gave you time off. Now we're calling in the marker. First game back, Neptune wins by less than nine."

Doug was already looking scared, and Veronica silently willed Peters not to push it too far.

"Deal?"

Beside her, Veronica could hear Wallace holding his breath, and she did the same. Their entire plan rested on what happened next.

"Fine," Doug said. "Deal."

Peters nodded, and Doug, looking relieved, started away. He didn't get far before Sampson and Ramirez rounded the corner, and Peters clapped a hand on his back.

Veronica smiled triumphantly at Wallace, who was looking happier than she'd seen him in weeks, and rushed over to join the action.

"Hey!" Doug yelled, suddenly panicked. "What the hell is this?"

"This," Veronica said, removing her earpiece as she approached him, "is not your lucky day. In fact, I'd say you're having a very bad day."

"You can't just -"

"Actually," she interrupted him. "I can do a lot of things. I can go to the dean with what I know, which is that you threw those games and framed Wallace for it. I can tell your teammates all about how you sold them out. And I can get these fine deputies here to haul you in for questioning, so unless you want them investigating every single thing you've done in the past four years, I suggest you go down to the sheriff's department willingly and tell them what they want to know."

Doug might have been monumentally stupid, but at least he knew when he was beaten. He nodded, and Peters smiled at Veronica as he slapped on a pair of handcuffs.

She got Wallace off the hook, and they got a shiny new witness against Joe the bookie. It was a mutually beneficial agreement.

Doug turned to look at Veronica again as they started to lead him away, and his eyes widened.

"Hey," he said. "I know you."

At last, some recognition.

"You broke into my room last year."

"Yeah," she said. "Sucks for you."

-

"Hey, watch it!" Logan called out as someone jostled past them. Veronica glanced over, but he was smiling, and she relaxed a little.

"Did you spill your drink?" Parker asked. She was sitting next to him, far enough away to be just friendly, but Veronica had caught them sneaking glances at each other as they took their seats. Whatever was going on with them, Veronica thought, at least Parker seemed to be happy.

Logan shook his head. "Nah, it's okay."

He smiled at Parker, and took a sip of what Veronica hoped was just soda. She doubted the college would take too well to people sneaking alcohol into games, particularly given the current climate, and she was looking forward to taking a break from getting her friends out of trouble for at least another week or two.

On the other side of Logan, Mac and Bronson were sitting so close together they were practically in each other's laps, paying no attention to what was going on around them. It would have been sickening if it wasn't kind of adorable, and Veronica was willing to forgive them for it. Mac, more than anyone, deserved a little happiness.

Of course, that did leave her and Piz in the uncomfortable position of being the only two people there without dates. Or non-dates, or whatever it was Logan and Parker were. She glanced at him with raised eyebrows, and he laughed, turning away from the couples.

"Yeah," he said. "Silly me, I forgot to invite someone. Of course, I thought we were coming to a basketball game, not the prom."

Veronica smiled, and turned to face the court. There was no sign of the players yet, but she was itching to see Wallace back in uniform.

"Young love," she said. "What can you do?"

"What?" Parker asked, and Veronica looked at her guiltily.

"Nothing," she said. "Just talking about Mac and Bronson."

The couple in question either decided to ignore her, or, more likely, hadn't heard what she'd said.

Parker shrugged. "I think it's cute."

Of course she did. In Parker's world, everyone got to live happily ever after.

It was a nice fantasy. Too bad Veronica had given up believing in fantasies a long time ago.

"Of course it is," she said. "I guess I'm just feeling a little left out."

Logan leaned over Parker. "They might let you join in, if you asked nicely."

She shot him a dirty look, but his grin only widened.

"Or you could have invited Dick."

Her mouth fell open in shock, and she immediately cursed herself for betraying the emotion. Logan's eyes gleamed wickedly, and she fought to recover quickly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, in what she thought was a good imitation of sincerity.

"Yeah," he said, obviously not believing her. "He's claiming he doesn't remember anything, either."

But Logan evidently did, which meant he must have seen it. And that meant other people might have, too.

Oh, god. She wanted to die.

She tried not to let that show on her face, though, and turned away from Logan before he could say anything else. Behind her, she could hear him laughing, but she ignored it, fixing her eyes firmly on Piz.

"You know," he said, picking up on her need for a change of conversation, "I was thinking about covering this for the radio station."

"They didn't go for it?"

"No, I'm sure they would have let me do it." He shrugged. "I just realized that I don't actually know anything about basketball. Or about commentating."

"That might have been a problem," she agreed.

Piz was about to say something else when he was abruptly drowned out by the noise of the crowd, and Veronica glanced over to see movement on the court. She slid forward in her seat, and smiled as Wallace stepped out onto the court with the rest of the team.

"So," she said, as the noise around them died down a little. "How does it feel to have your roommate back?"

"It's okay," Piz said, feigning nonchalance. "I mean, not that I didn't enjoy having a single, but it's nice to have my friend back."

"Well, you're welcome to him," she said. "He was eating us out of house and home."

And hogging the remote. And ganging up with her father to spend the entire day watching sports. And using up all the hot water in the shower.

She almost missed him already.

When the game started, they both fell silent, and Veronica peered around the guy seated inconveniently in front of her. Wallace, from what she could tell, was on fire, moving up and down the court like he was born for it. At least the forced hiatus didn't seem to have affected his game.

At half time, they were up by eight points, and by the time the final buzzer sounded, they'd won by fourteen. Veronica couldn't help feeling a little school pride as the crowd cheered, and she made her way down from the bleachers to meet Wallace at the edge of the court.

"Wallace!" she called out, and he grinned, taking the last few steps towards her. "You were amazing out there."

"I couldn't have done it without you," he said sincerely, and she shook her head.

"The team couldn't have done it without you. They're lucky."

"Luck?" He waved a hand. "Luck's got nothing to do with it. It's all skill, baby."

She rolled her eyes as Wallace preened, and started rummaging around in her bag.

"Here," she said finally, holding out a box. "I've been carrying it around all night, so it might be a little squished."

He took the box, and his smile widened. "You made me a spirit box?"

"Not just any spirit box," she said. "This is a special 'congratulations for getting back on the team' spirit box."

He opened it. "Snickerdoodles."

"A double batch of snickerdoodles."

Wallace met her gaze, and she shrugged.

"Anyway, congratulations."

He slung an arm around her shoulder, and she didn't bother to complain that he was getting her all sweaty.

Sometimes her life wasn't so bad, after all.

-

"Please tell me you're here to set up for the party."

Well, that didn't take long. She hadn't even set foot inside the house yet. "Hey, Kelly."

"Oh. Hey, Veronica. But please tell me you're here to help."

"Sure," she said with a shrug. "What do you need?"

"Oh my god, everything. I still don't have any decorations up, the bar is completely understocked, and unless we get the sound system set up before everyone gets here, it's going to be a complete disaster."

"Why don't I help with the stereo?" she offered. It was the least she could do, unless she wanted to see Kelly actually start tearing her hair out.

Kelly sighed. "You're a lifesaver."

As Veronica followed her into the back room, she wondered how to bring up the subject of Hallie. She'd promised Lamb she'd stay away from the investigation, but that had been weeks ago, and it wasn't like she'd talked to him lately. Besides, what he didn't know couldn't hurt him, right?

She didn't get a chance to say anything at all, though, when Kelly suddenly stopped in front of her, shouting something about lighting and ambiance and a bunch of words that mostly sounded like high-pitched shrieks. She rushed off, heading towards the kitchen, and Veronica sighed.

Somehow, she doubted that Kelly was going to be running for social chair again next year.

She set about fixing the sound system, anyway. She almost laughed when she saw the problem, and glanced around the room until she saw a familiar face.

"Siobhann," she said. "Do you know if this thing has a cord?"

Siobhann came over to have a look, and smiled. "Yeah. It should be around here somewhere, I'll have a look."

Veronica got up to help her, her eyes scouring the small room.

"I'm afraid she's going to have a breakdown or something," Siobhann said quietly after a minute, glancing towards the door. "She's insisting that everything has to be perfect. I'm just hoping campus security doesn't find out and come to shut us down."

Veronica smiled sympathetically, and Siobhann straightened, throwing up her hands.

"I don't know," she said. "Try looking in Kelly's room. It might be there."

Kelly's room was upstairs, second on the left, with a nameplate stuck conveniently to the door. Inside, it was immaculate, and Veronica let out a low whistle. Apparently Kelly was a fan of organisation in her personal as well as her social life.

She paused, her search for the power cord momentarily forgotten. She hadn't gotten the chance to ask Kelly about Hallie, but there might be something about her here. Other boyfriends, enemies, house rivalries; anybody who might have been tempted to slip something into her drink. Like all self-respecting sorority girls, Kelly probably kept a diary, and in a room this neat, it wouldn't take Veronica long to look for it. In fact, it was probably -

- under her bed. Veronica looked down as her hand closed over the book. It was marked clearly as 'Kelly's Diary' in brightly coloured ink, and it didn't so much as have a lock to keep it safe. Anyone could look through it, and Kelly would never even know. And if it just happened to fall open ...

Veronica looked down again, and paused. The power cord for the stereo was curled up against the wall, partially hidden by the bedspread. She had what she came for.

Noise began to filter up from downstairs, the Theta Betas in the throes of party preparation, and Veronica set the diary aside. She didn't want to start suspecting the Theta Betas, and Kelly wasn't exactly known for being reticent. Anything she needed to know, she could probably just ask, if she ever found a minute when Kelly wasn't busy.

And if not, she knew where to look for more answers.

"You found it," Siobhann said, when Veronica got back downstairs.

She nodded, and plugged in the cord. The stereo lit up immediately.

That was one crisis averted, at least.

It wasn't long before people started arriving, and Veronica still hadn't found an opportunity to talk to any of the Theta Betas about Hallie. The Pi Sigs were the first to get there, predictably, and she quickly busied herself on the other side of the room when she saw Dick. Luckily, he didn't seem to have brought Madison, but he still wasn't someone she particularly wanted to talk to. Especially after what had happened at the last party they both attended.

Mac and Parker arrived shortly afterwards, followed by Wallace and Piz, and finally Logan. Veronica smiled at him when he caught her eye, and went to talk to Mac, who looked uncomfortable and alone in the corner.

"No Bronson?" she asked, and Mac smiled grimly.

"No me, I wish. Parker forced me to come. She said I was spending too much time with Bronson and not enough time with her."

"And this is her idea of spending quality time together?"

Mac shot her an unimpressed look.

"If you want," Veronica offered, "I can distract her while you sneak out."

Mac smiled gratefully, and then glanced over Veronica's shoulder. "Never mind. I think she's going to be distracted for a while."

Veronica looked around, and saw Parker talking to Logan. "Then I guess now's your chance."

"Yeah," Mac said, already starting towards the door. "If she asks, tell her I'm in the bathroom. Or that I went home sick."

"Will do," Veronica assured her, and watched as Mac left. When she turned back around, Wallace was standing in front of her, grinning.

"So, how does it feel?" she asked. "Tonight was your second win in a row."

"Feels good," he said, and she couldn't help smiling with him. At least she'd managed to solve one case. "How about you? Enjoying the party?"

"Oh, yeah," she said unenthusiastically. She should never have bothered believing that the college's restrictions would mean she might get a break from all of this once in a while.

"Hey," he said, more seriously. "If you want to talk, I mean, about anything ..."

He looked uncomfortable, and she guessed he was talking about Lamb. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had noticed their recent lack of communication.

She shook her head. "Thanks, but I'll pass. I'm not sure this is really the right place for a deep and meaningful conversation."

He shrugged, but he was still watching her. "Whatever you say. Just know that I'm here for you, all right?"

"I know that," she told him sincerely.

He looked slightly mollified as he left, and Veronica considered the merits of allowing herself a drink. It looked like it was going to be a long night.

Or not, as a loud bang on the door caught everyone's attention.

"Oh my god." Siobhann, standing to Veronica's right, visibly paled. "Security."

Then the person at the door stepped into the light, and Veronica realised it wasn't campus security at all.

It was Lamb.

His eyes slid over Veronica with only a slight pause, and she frowned. If he wasn't looking for her, what was he doing here? She watched as he strode forward, apparently seeing whoever it was he'd come for.

"Logan Echolls," he said, in a voice that carried clearly over the sudden hush of the party. "Come with me."


	7. Ah, But Underneath

Sometimes, Veronica wished she weren't quite so well acquainted with the county jail.

"Fancy running into you here," she said, her voice ringing out loudly against the bare walls.

Logan looked up as she stopped outside his cell, and offered her a wan smile. "Yeah, it's real funny."

"I would have thought you'd be used to it by now."

He stepped forward to meet her. "So, did you just come here to gloat, or are you actually here to help me?"

"It depends," she said. "Why are you here?"

"What, your boyfriend didn't tell you already?" He looked strangely pleased for a minute, and then looked down at his hands. "It's about Hallie."

Veronica felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't questioned Logan about that night; she hadn't thought she needed to.

She should have known better.

"What about Hallie?" she asked, her voice flat.

He looked up at her. "Hallie and I hooked up at the party."

She hadn't seen that one coming. Half a dozen different emotions rushed through her, and she reached for the one that seemed easiest. "And you didn't think to maybe mention this?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were a cop now."

"But you didn't think I'd want to know? God, Logan. You couldn't have told anyone?"

"Dick knew."

Of course Dick knew. By the time she got through with him, he was going to start thinking a lot more carefully before lying to her.

"Look, I'm innocent, okay?" Logan said. "You can't seriously believe I killed her."

Could she? She had accused Logan of murder once before. He had been guilty of a lot of things over the years, but never that.

"I believe you," she said finally. "But you should have -"

"I know, okay?" He still looked worried, but less so than he had a minute ago. "I should have told you. I should tell you everything, right? Do you want to know what I had for breakfast yesterday?"

"Logan."

"No, it's okay. I think I had eggs. Scrambled. And then -"

"I get it, okay?" she interrupted him. "I don't need to hear about every girl you hook up with. I don't want to know about every girl you hook up with. But god, Logan, when you hook up with a girl who just happens to die ..."

Logan's face fell, and she guessed he didn't really need the reminder.

She sighed. "I'll help you with this. But I need to know everything. Were you with her when she died?"

"No," he said quietly. "I was with Dick."

"Where?"

"I don't know. At the party, okay?"

It wasn't much, but it didn't look like he was going to get any more specific. "And Dick will back you up on that?"

"Yeah, Dick will back me up on that." He looked resentful that she had to ask, but not surprised. "Just ask him."

She nodded. Talking to Dick Casablancas wasn't exactly something she looked forward to, but they both knew she would.

"Veronica," he said, and leaned down so his face was closer to hers. "Thanks, okay?"

She gave him a tight-lipped smile. "No problem. That's what friends are for, right?"

He laughed, as if exonerating your ex-boyfriend for the murder of one of your friend wasn't _exactly_ what friends were for. "Yeah."

"Yeah." She took a step back. "Hey, look on the bright side. At least you got a single."

He laughed again, and she left, keeping her head down. She'd gotten in to visit Logan without having to see Lamb; she might be able to get back out, too, if she was lucky.

She wasn't.

"Veronica," Lamb said, as if he was surprised to see her. She supposed he should be; it wasn't exactly like she'd been a regular around here lately. Then his expression drew in, became unreadable. "What are you doing here?"

"I ..." She gestured towards the cells. "I came to see Logan."

"Oh." She really wished she could have guessed what he was thinking. "So I guess a little murder charge is all it takes to make you come running, huh?"

"Logan's a friend."

"I thought Hallie was your friend."

"She was." Apparently, the time off hadn't given Lamb a chance to cool down. "Logan's innocent."

Lamb snorted.

Why could the men in her life never just all get along?

"That's not what his buddies in the Pi Sig house had to say."

"The Pi Sigs told you about Logan and Hallie?" There was no honour among thieves and drunken idiots.

"Among other things."

"I'm guessing they told you about the party, too." She definitely hadn't been the one to tip him off about that, and she doubted Lamb generally kept up to date with the Greek social calendar.

Except where she was concerned, of course.

He shrugged. "I managed to drag it out of them."

She wondered if he meant that literally.

"You know," he said, stepping forward, and the look on his face wasn't quite friendly. She didn't know what it was. "I hear those cells are actually pretty romantic."

"Yeah," she said trying for levity, "but my boyfriend's the sheriff, and I don't really think he'd approve."

Lamb raised an eyebrow. "So I'm your boyfriend now?"

"What else would you be?"

"You tell me, Veronica," he said, his expression serious. "I haven't spoken to you in a month."

It couldn't have possibly been that long, she thought. There was no way she would have gone a whole month without calling him.

_Yes, there is,_ a traitorous voice in her head whispered.

"I didn't break up with you."

He ignored her. "You know, a phone call would have been nice. It isn't exactly like you don't know where to find me."

No, it wasn't. In fact, she thought guiltily, she'd been going out of he way to avoid him.

But that didn't mean she wanted to break up with him. They'd been fighting, was all.

"My phone wasn't exactly ringing off the hook, either," she countered.

He rolled his eyes. "I tried that, remember? You dodged my calls."

Okay, there'd been that. She just hadn't felt like confronting him while they were both working on the case.

"For that matter," he said, as if he'd read her mind, "I thought I told you to stay away from this case. In fact, I'm pretty sure you promised me you would."

"I did stay away from it," she said. That was technically true; she hadn't actually gotten the chance to speak to anyone at the party about Hallie before Lamb had broken it up.

"Yeah, it sure looks that way."

"I didn't really think that applied after you started arresting people in front of me."

"Then maybe you shouldn't be hanging out with our only suspects."

Our suspects, she noted. Apparently he didn't expect her to stay off the case, any more than she intended to.

"I'm just helping out a friend," she said. "An innocent friend. And then I'm done."

He stared at her for a moment, and then nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"When all this is over ..."

He waited for her to finish, and when she didn't, he left. Honestly, she wasn't even sure what she had been going to say.

She just hoped it was all going to be over soon.

-

"Veronica, hey," Parker said, flinging open the door. "Are you here to see Mac? She's at class right now, but I can get her to call you when she gets home."

"Actually," Veronica said, "I'm here to see you."

Parker smiled, and Veronica felt suitably guilty as she followed her into the room.

Her weekend had been a supreme waste of time. Dick was obviously avoiding her, which she hadn't actually thought he was capable of. Apparently high school had taught him something, after all. Her sources at the Neptune Grand told her he hadn't been back to Logan's, and the Pi Sigs had claimed no knowledge of his whereabouts. She didn't believe it for a second, but they were impressively loyal to one of their own, even if it hadn't stopped them turning in Logan.

Coming to see Parker was a last resort, and one she'd been putting off. But if Parker had been at party the night Hallie died, she might have seen something, and any information Veronica could get right now was better than nothing.

"So," Parker said, sitting on the bed. "What did you want?"

Veronica paused. "You were at the Theta Beta luncheon."

"Mmm-hmm." She nodded.

"Did you go to the party that night?"

Parker looked surprised. She obviously hadn't been expecting Veronica to question her about Hallie. "Yeah."

"Did you see Logan there?"

"Is this about Logan getting arrested?" Parker asked.

"Maybe," Veronica said. "Have you been to see him?"

Parker shook her head. "No."

"Did you see him at the party?"

"Yeah."

Parker was beginning to look decidedly uncomfortable, as if she'd rather not talk about it. Veronica pressed on, anyway.

"Did you know he hooked up with Hallie that night?"

For a minute, Veronica thought Parker wasn't going to answer, and then she nodded. "That's why I left."

"Did you see either of them after that?"

"I didn't see Logan."

"And Hallie?"

Parker looked at her curiously. "What's this about?"

Veronica bit her lip. "I'm just trying to find out everything I can. Lamb thinks that Logan hooking up with Hallie at the party is grounds for suspecting him, and -"

"Is it grounds for suspecting me?"

Veronica looked at her, shocked.

"I mean, that's why you're asking me all this, right? You think I was jealous of Logan, and you think -"

"Parker."

"Are you accusing me of something?"

"Should I be?"

Wow, was that the wrong thing to say. Parker jumped up from the bed, and Veronica hurriedly looked away. "Seriously?"

"Did you see Hallie after she was with Logan?"

"No," Parker said, her voice barely even.

"Then I'm not accusing you of anything."

Parker looked unconvinced.

"I swear. That wasn't what I meant. I'm just trying to find some answers."

Parker didn't say anything, and she wasn't looking at Veronica.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

Parker glanced over, and her expression softened a little. "I'm sorry you lost your friend."

Veronica supposed that was something close to forgiveness. And if it took Parker thinking that her actions had been caused by grief-stricken irrationality rather than a pathological inability to trust people, that was okay with her.

She sighed as she left Parker's room, resisting the urge to bang her head against the wall. She was still exactly nowhere on the case, and now she'd nearly lost another friend over it.

This was going really well.

-

"Dude, you better -"

Dick stopped suddenly when he saw Veronica, his expression frozen.

"I thought you were Sumpter."

"Sorry to disappoint," she said. "But now that you're finally here, I need to talk to you."

"Actually, I'm -"

"Now," she said, and he shrugged, taking a step forward and closing the door behind him.

"So, does this mean you're not just going to let Logan rot in jail?"

"That really depends on you," she said. "Were you with Logan at the party?"

"Yeah. You saw me there, remember?"

She didn't answer that. She was planning on blocking all party-related Dick encounters out of her memory completely. "Were you with him when Hallie died?"

"How am I supposed to -"

She gave him a look, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay? I was with Logan. Are we done now?"

"No. Did you know he was with Hallie that night?"

Dick shrugged. She waited.

Eventually, he gave in. "Sure."

"And you didn't think to mention this when I asked you what you saw at the party?"

"What, like everything's your business now?"

"Yes," she said. "What happened that night?"

"Look, I don't know all the details, okay? They hooked up. Whatever. The next time I saw her, she was off with a couple of the brothers. I guess she got sick of Logan."

Veronica waited until Dick was looking at her, and held his gaze. "Now, I want you to think really, really hard. And if you lie to me again, I can promise you'll be sharing a cell with Logan before you can blink. Who were the Pi Sigs Hallie was with?"

Dick looked, for a minute, as if he was going to call her bluff, but then apparently thought better of it. "I'm not a hundred percent sure, okay?"

"I really don't care. Who were they?"

He shrugged. "I think one of them was Andrews."

"Andrews got a first name?"

"Robbie," he said reluctantly.

"Is he here?"

Dick moved a little to block the door as she stepped forward. "He's not here. He's on campus."

"At class?"

"Probably."

"Which class?"

"How should I know? I'm not his mother." He looked nervous, but she thought he was probably telling the truth. "All I know is, he usually get home late."

She nodded, slowly. "If I find out there's anything you aren't telling me -"

"It's the truth, I swear." Now he wasn't so much nervous as he was nearly panicking. And she hadn't even had to pull her taser. "That's all I know."

And it was all he'd ever know, if it turned out he'd been lying to her even a little bit.

-

It wasn't difficult to track down Robbie Andrews' class schedule, and an hour later, Veronica was waiting for him in the hall. As he left the classroom, she fell into step beside him.

"Robbie," she said, and he looked over at her.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"Veronica," she said. "I was a friend of Hallie's."

He stopped, and a flicker of something - guilt, maybe - crossed his face. "Yeah, I know you. You're a Theta Beta."

Great. Was that really what she was going to be remembered for after she graduated?

"I want to know what happened to Hallie on the night she died."

He looked away; he'd obviously never read the memo on how not to appear guilty while being questioned. "I already told the sheriff -"

"I don't care what you told the sheriff," she said. "I want to know the truth."

He swallowed. "It's just like I said. I don't know what happened to her, okay? I was -"

"With her when she died," Veronica interrupted. He looked surprised. "Yeah, one of your frat brothers caved."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted. Not very convincingly, but she had to give him points for effort.

He started walking away, and Veronica had to hurry to follow him.

"Of course, if you don't want to talk to me, I could just go talk to my boyfriend. You know, the sheriff? Tell him about those two assault charges against you, and the restraining order your girlfriend put out. I doubt those thing would look very good on a guy who's being accused of murder."

That got him to stop. "You think Hallie was murdered?"

She gave him a long look. "Okay, then, what's your take on it? It was an accident? You were drunk? She was asking for it?"

"I didn't kill her!" he shouted. A few people in the hallway turned to look at them, but kept walking.

Veronica raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't look that way to me. And I don't think it'll look that way to the sheriff, either."

"Look," Robbie said, lowering his voice. "I didn't kill her."

"Then what did happen?"

He glanced away, and then shrugged, apparently resigned. "It was an accident, okay?"

"So, what? You didn't mean to kill her, but -"

"No," he said quickly. "I mean, it was an accident."

He sighed then, and looked down, not volunteering anything else.

"What kind of accident?" Veronica pressed. She really didn't like the way this was headed. Thinking that Hallie was murdered had been bad enough, but thinking that she wasn't ...

"We were drinking," Robbie said. "It was stupid, okay? But we were really drunk."

"What was stupid?" she asked.

"We were really drunk," he said again. As if that was somehow the most salient point. "There were a few of us, and we were just ... I don't know. We were daring each other to drink stupid stuff."

Sinking feeling, check. "Like drain cleaner?"

He shook his head. "It didn't start like that. It was just shots, mostly. Then one of the guys started mixing these drinks. Stupid stuff, you know? Like beer and orange juice, or whiskey and tequila."

Veronica waited. She didn't think he needed any more prompting. Once people got to the confessional stage, it was usually better to just sit back and let them talk.

"Then they started looking around for other stuff to add. And it was right there, when we looked under the sink. They started saying it would be funny, you know, to drink it. Kind of daring each other. One of them put it in her drink, and ... I don't know. We said she'd never drink it."

"And then she did," Veronica said flatly.

"Yeah," he said. "She did. And at first it was funny, you know, 'cause she looked like she was going to puke, and then ..."

"She died," she said. She didn't know if Robbie had even heard her.

"We just panicked. I mean, it wasn't like we meant to kill her, but ..."

He trailed off, not looking at Veronica any more. She couldn't look at him, either.

"Turn yourself in," she said, after a minute or two had passed. "To the sheriff. Go tell him what you told me."

"No way," he said, backing up. "It was an accident, we didn't mean to -"

"I don't care!" Veronica yelled. She didn't care that people were now staring at her, either. "Turn yourself in, or I will."

"You don't have any proof," he said, and she shook her head.

"No," she agreed, and pulled the tape recorder out of her bag. "But I do have this."

Robbie's eyes went wide, and he didn't need to know that she had never switched it on. Even without it, she could get Lamb to believe her story.

"Whoa," he said. "Come on, let's -"

"No," she said. "Either you turn yourself in, or this is going straight to the sheriff. You can take bets on whether or not he'll believe you that it was an accident."

It almost looked like Robbie was smiling. "They were right about you."

"Right?" Veronica asked, and he shrugged.

"People talk. They say things about you."

"All good things, I hope."

He shook his head, but she didn't think it was in response to her statement. "I didn't believe them."

"Well, maybe now you'll listen," she said. "You have until the end of the day to turn yourself in."

Veronica took a strange sort of comfort in knowing that people still talked about her. It beat being known only as a sorority girl, at any rate.

She wished she could feel as good about knowing what had happened to Hallie.

-

"Veronica," Landry said, and she looked up. "So, have you got any new leads on your murder mystery?"

"Actually," she said, pulling a folder out of her bag, "I finished my assignment."

He took the folder, looking a little surprised. "It's early."

She shrugged. "You said we could turn them in any time before the end of the semester."

"So I did," he said. "Are you sure you don't want a couple of extra weeks to go over it?"

"I'm sure," she said. She'd be happy to never have to look at it again.

He nodded. "All right, then, I'm impressed. I look forward to reading it. I'm sure you've done an excellent job."

"Yeah," she said, with slightly less enthusiasm. "Me, too."

-

Veronica had put off going to see Lamb for long enough. Avoiding him once had already caused enough problems between them, and she wasn't keen to repeat the experience. Whatever her issues with relationships, and whatever their past had been, she wasn't ready to let their relationship go.

She just hoped she could convince him of that.

She smiled politely at Inga as she entered, and made her way through to Lamb's office. He was sitting at his desk, and he got up when he saw her.

"I heard you caught the guys who were with Hallie," she said, by way of greeting. "Congratulations."

He studied her. "And I suppose you had nothing to do with that?"

She didn't answer him.

"Veronica," he said, and shook his head. "I told you to stay away from the case."

"And I ignored you," she said.

"You could have put yourself in danger."

"What danger?" she asked. "There was no killer. Just a bunch of stupid frat guys who thought it would be funny to put drain cleaner in somebody's drink."

"You didn't know that."

"No," she said. "And it wouldn't have stopped me."

He was looking at a spot over her shoulder, his jaw clenched tightly, as if he were trying hard not to scream at her.

"Besides," she said. "I helped you catch the guys, didn't I?"

"So, what? I'm supposed to thank you now?" He turned to look at her, and she almost wished he hadn't. "Gee, thanks, Veronica, for doing my job for me."

"I didn't mean it like that," she protested.

"Then what did you mean? That I can't be trusted to solve a case on my own? That I can't do my job?"

She didn't answer him.

"I told you I'd handle it, and you went ahead and looked into it anyway."

"Because Hallie was my friend," she said. "I can't just sit back and wait for something to happen. It's not who I am."

He was silent for a minute. "I know it's not who you are."

"And you wish you could change me?"

"No," he said, taking a step forward. "I don't."

Well, that was out there. Neither of them said anything for a while, and then he stepped around her, closing the door.

"What?" she asked. "Are you going to throttle me?"

"I'm thinking about it."

She offered him a weak smile.

"You know, those guys aren't going to be very happy with you."

"I know," she said. Dean O'Dell had already passed down the verdict on the Pi Sigs; the fraternity was being suspended for the rest of the year, pending good behaviour. It didn't look good for them. The Theta Betas had mostly escaped further punishment, despite Hallie's role in what had happened; she supposed that was the college's way of trying to be sensitive about her death. Veronica didn't think there were going to be any more parties any time soon, though.

Kelly should be relieved.

She shrugged. "I've had enemies before. Usually they're pig-headed men with guns and uniforms."

Lamb looked like he was trying to be offended. "So now I'm pig-headed?"

"Not just now," she said. "Besides, who said I was talking about you?"

"No, you were very subtle," he agreed. "And I happen to know a certain blonde PI who doesn't know when to stop investigating things that are none of her business."

"Hmm." She pretended to think. "Nope, sorry. Doesn't ring a bell."

"Must be my other girlfriend, then."

"So now I'm your girlfriend?"

He looked unimpressed. "Do you really want to start that again?"

"No." She shook her head. "Definitely not."

"Good." He started advancing on her. "Because I've always had this fantasy about you and my desk -"

She shot a look behind him at the closed door, and he smirked.

"Don't worry," he assured her. "I sent Sacks out on a house call. He should be gone for a while."

"In that case," she said, leaning back against the desk, "tell me about this fantasy."


End file.
